Danny Phantom Fanfic Ideas
by Briar Ruler
Summary: This is were all my probably never going to be continued Danny Phantom story ideas go. Chapters 1-5; In a world were three people stood in the Portal when it activated, a trio of friends struggle to accept what has happened to them and control their new powers.
1. Three For the Portal-Part 1

**I'm playing with other people's stuff for fun, not for profit, so if you recognise something; then it probably belongs to whoever owns the works I'm playing with, which in this case is whoever owns Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman or Nickelodeon Animation Studios or something; not sure exactly who or what, because I find it kind of hard to figure out, beyond that it is not me.**

"So what were your parents working on this time?" Tucker asked as he checked that the pounding rain hadn't damaged his precious PDA. Sam stopped trying to squeeze water out of her shoulder length black hair and turned to look at Danny with clear curiosity on her face.

He glanced back at the sheets of near hail like water, flinching as lightening crackled across the turbulent sky, before he closed the front door and answered with an exasperated groaned, "A Ghost Portal. Not that it worked." He pulled of his jacket and unhung it next to his friends' then nudged off his sneakers and placed them next to Tucker's. "My parents were pretty upset about that."

"A Ghost Portal?" Sam asked with interest in her violet eyes as they moved towards the kitchen. Danny just hummed. "That's cool. I wonder what it looks like?"

"It's in my parent's lab and you know we're not allowed down there. Besides it's just a big metal hole in the wall of our basement." Danny gave the black haired Goth a wary look as she riffled through her bag for a something.

Sam gave a cry of victory as she pulled her camera out. "Still wouldn't it be cool to take a picture of it?" Danny and Tucker gave her disbelieving looks. "And think of all the tech in the lab; what sort of Technology even a non-working Ghost Portal must have in it." Tucker's look changed to considering while Danny just groaned. "It's not like your parents are home. We can just pop in and have a look around before leaving again. We won't touch anything and your parents will never know."

"But what about Jazz…" Danny protested before Sam cut him off, "She's at the library and won't be back for at least another hour. Come on Danny, we've never seen this lab of yours before."

Danny gave Tucker a beseeching look as Sam marched over to the half open lab door, but Tucker just grinned at Danny as he followed her. With a groan Danny thumped his head against the kitchen wall before following his crazy friends down the basement stairs.

"Woah." Sam and Tucker breathed in awe as they took in the dark and spacious lab; tubes and beakers of ecto-plasma cast an eerie green glow, the smooth metal walls seemed almost ominous in the dim light. Tucker with a gleam in his turquoise eyes, moved straight to the computers while Sam stared at the eerie green liquid. Danny just shook his head at his friends as he stood at the bottom of the stairs and flicked the lights on. If his friends were going to explore around the lab, there was no way they were doing it in the dark.

"The Fenton Ghost Portal is over here." he told them, moving over to a large clear section of wall. They gathered behind him and stared silently up at the massive, dark, mechanical hole in the wall. A flash of light lit up the depths of the portal as Sam clicked her camera. "If my parents ever see any photos of their lab with us in it they will ground me for the rest of my life."

"Don't worry so much, these are just going in my personal scape book. You parents will never see them." she replied as she took more photos, "Could you stand in front of the Portal Danny?"

He gave Sam a look but did so.

Tucker wandered over to look at the portal as Sam's camera clicked away. "Danny, could you go in in and have a look around?" Sam asked sweetly.

Danny gave his black haired friend an incredulous look and so did Tucker. "You want me to go into my parents' insane ghost portal. It could electrocute me or have some weird radiation!"

"Just have a look around. It couldn't hurt and it's cool, the idea of a whole another world." Sam stared at Danny until he relented with a groan.

"Fine, but I'm not going in there without at least some safely equipment. God only knows what my parents might have left laying around." He turned and walked over to a large cupboard by one of the walls. Opening it he pulled out a mostly monotone hazmat jumpsuit, like his parents used, but in his size and not orange or blue. Making sure that the door shielded him from his friends' gazes he shimmied out of his rain-wet clothes until he stood in just his boxers. Then he put on the white jumpsuit with black gloves, boots, belt and collar before tearing off a bright orange Jack Fenton sticker from his chest. "My parents got me this for my last birthday. But you both should probably put on one of the spare suits."

Tucker nodded and put down his backpack before pulling out a pure white suit but Sam just said, "I'm a Goth, I don't do white." Danny looked up from where he had started to draw on the chest of his suit with black marker a stylized D - leaving it with a gap that made it look more like a very elaborate P that with part of its tail cut off - and rummaged around in the cupboard, finding a pure black suit that he gave to Sam. Then after Tucker come out carrying a bundle of wet clothes, included his beloved red beret, and his backpack, they politely turned their backs so Sam could change.

Now all dressed in hazmat jumpsuits for their safely; even if they had refused to put on the hoods, googles or breath-masks and instead tucked them in the suit belts, they approached the portal. Tucker with his almost shoulder length black micro-braids that Sam had dared him to grow looking surprisingly different from normal and Sam also looked different without her normal gothic cloths or even the ponytail in her hair. At a push from Sam Danny entered the portal.

Tucker stood in the entrance looking at all the technology with excitement in his turquoise eyes as he typed away on his PDA, automatically pushing up his glasses when they started to slip. Sam stood next to Tucker in the entrance fiddling with her camera and Danny blinked at a sudden camera flash before turning around, "I've been in and you've taken a picture Sam, let's leave now."

As he stared to move back to the portal entrance Sam with an irritated look took another picture. Startled by the bright flash of light Danny stumbled and tripped. Automatically one hand braced against the wall, when with a sudden sick feeling in his gut, it sunk. He looked up and saw with horror it was an on/off button. "Get out!" he screamed at Sam and Tucker.

As Danny scrambled to his feet Tucker - who had tripped over and dropped his PDA and glasses onto the floor of the lab when Sam unexpectedly blinded him with her camera flash - had gotten up of the lab floor and moved further into the Portal then Sam to make sure Danny was alright, and he stopped in surprise at the command. Slightly behind Tucker and standing half in the very entrance of the Portal Sam's camera slipped from her fingers to bounce next to Tucker's PDA upon hearing the fear in Danny's voice.

They all stared, frozen in shock as with a whirring sound, eerie green light began to crackle at the back of the portal. It engulfed Danny before he could run and continued forward as he screamed. It slammed into Tucker, then Sam, engulfing them for a moment before flinging out Sam, then Tucker. For a couple more seconds Danny continued to jerk in the depths of the portal before he was flung out as it stabilized into a hypnotic swirling green horizontal puddle that light up the now dark lab.

 **I was inspired to write this after reading a few Danny Phantom fics and so you might see ideas that came from them in this story.**

 ** _The Slippery Slope That's Turning Into a Serial Killer_** **by Dantriestobeproductive.**

 ** _Halfa_** **by JustTeachPlease.**

 ** _Obsessed_** **by Sol's Darkness.**

 ** _Amity's Arrancar_** **by Chash123 and Sharkteeth.**

 **They are all good stories and have interesting ideas.**


	2. Three For the Portal-Part 2

**I'm playing with other people's stuff for fun, not for profit, so if you recognise something; then it probably belongs to whoever owns the works I'm playing with, which in this case is whoever owns Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman or Nickelodeon Animation Studios or something; not sure exactly who or what, because I find it kind of hard to figure out, beyond that it is not me.**

Danny was surprisingly the first to stir. Neon green eyes flickered open, staring dazedly at the dark lab celling. _It's cold. Wait._ _The lab? What?_ "Tucker, Sam!" he jerked up with a strangled yell. Frantic eyes swept the lab before alighting on two faintly lit figures slumped on the ground.

He scrambled over to the white and black lumps, giving a strangled sob of relief as the black one twitched and moved. "Tucker, Sam." he shook their shoulders, unable to see well in the labs dim emergency lights that seemed to paint everything an unearthly green.

"Danny?" The back form groaned and then sat up.

"Tucker!" Danny cried flinging his arms around his best friend in a desperate hug as the white form made grumpy sounds.

"What…?" The white form moaned, rolling over slightly.

"Sam." Danny said loosening one arm from around Tucker to shake her. She sat up holding her head. "Thank God, you're both alright, for a second I thought you might…" Danny cut off with a sharp shudder.

Sam was now staring at him wide eyed, before she cautiously asked "Danny?"

"What?" he asked, clueless.

Tucker shifted. "Um, you look a little different Danny." he paused, "I think we all do."

With some trepidation Danny payed more attention to things that had been dismissed as minor details when he was worried for his friends lives. Tucker's eyes were _glowing_ eerie green and Sam's pale hair seemed to shine. _Right._ He took a shuddering breath. _Glowing._ Exhale. _Okay. A mirror, we need a mirror._ Deep breath. _Calm. Stay calm._ "Right, I think there's a mirror over there. Okay. Let's not panic."

Awkwardly, they clambered to their feet and stumbled through the dim lab to the mirror. It was harder than it should have been, none of them were willing to let the others go and they clung to each as they walked. The main lab lights didn't seem to be working properly, so it was by the emergency lighting and ectoplasmic glow they navigated. _And the faint glow of their bodies._ Most of the light was green, from the open portal that Danny was determinedly not thinking about.

Stopping, Danny swallowed, opened his eyes and looked. The boy who stared back from the mirror looked so different, that he nearly gave into panic. Glowing ectoplasmic green eyes stared out, were they should have been blue, and the white hair that waved in a non-existent breeze was so pale, it was hard to imagine it used to be black. He was glowing too and his hazmat suit seemed to have swapped it colours around. It was black now with white boots and gloves along with a now white half-finished DP thing. _At least it's not my Dad's face._ Some oddly collected part of his mind commented.

Tearing his eyes away from his changed appearance he looked at his friends. Sam's black hair was now bone white to match her newly bleach white jumpsuit while her eyes glowed a pale green. Tiny white micro braids brushed along Tucker's neck like a curtain, while his jumpsuit was black and his eyes glowed a dark green.

 _Glowing. Green. Not real. Not real. Not here. Not here. Not seeing this._ His eyes had slid shut at some point during his minor panic attack but they snapped back open when Tucker yelled. His reflection was gone.

 _Mtreflection is gone!_ He turned to look at where the mirror said Tucker was holding onto empty air and _oh gods he was invisible._ Trembling- _what if I'm stuck like this forever?_ -he breathed. _Calm, your still here, Tucker's holding onto to you._ Eyes closed. Inhale. Exhale. _Just breathe. You're here and you're fine. Okay._

"Danny?" Tucker's shaky voice pulled his attention and he automatically looked at his friend. A half sob of relief escaped him when he saw that his arm and thus his body had at some point reappeared. Tucker gave him a wavering smile and he turned to look at Sam who was just staring at him with wide eyes. As he tried to lift the arm she was holding to hug her he realised she was holding him really tight. _Ouch._ He winced. _That's actually painful. Wish she had a looser grip._

His shoulders slumped slightly as her painfully grip vanished. A strangled shriek sounded from Sam and he looked at his arm. _Which was_ hazy _and he could_ see _Sam's hand_ in _his arm. And he couldn't feel Tucker either and oh,_ gods _, oh gods he wasn't_ solid _, he was all airy and oh, he was intangible, like a ghost and he didn't want to intangible for the rest of his life, how would he eat and drink and be a NSA Pilot and gods he couldn't be intangible._

It was to his utter relief when suddenly his hand stopped looking so hazy and he could really feel the solid steel beneath his boots. Tucker poked his arm and he revelled in the uncomfortable sensation. _I can feel I can feel I can feel. I can feel breathebreathebreathe. Calm. Calm. I need calmness._ In. Out. In. Out. "Th-that's not normal."

"Yeah," Tucker gave a shaky smirk, "Unless you've been hiding something from us all this time Danny?" Tucker wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Danny gave a weak, slight hysterical laugh. The laughter didn't stop and then Tucker was laughing too and so was Sam. It was a light, bubbly feeling, strained and ready to burst but for the moment it felt like the gravity had let him go.

As they are and the laughter stared to die away Danny couldn't help but wonder. W _hen did I get so much taller than them?_ Then Tucker looked up at him and the last of his laughter cut of abruptly. "Danny…"

Tucker didn't seem to know what to say and just looked helplessly between his best friend and the ground. _I'm floating._ The thought was met with startling calm. _I guess I'm too shocked out to be surprised anymore. Hu, so I'm floating. Okay. So, I want to stop floating. Right now. I want to stop floating and stand on the ground again right now._ To his calm amazement he did exactly that. Drifting heaver and heaver to the ground before touching down and abruptly feeling like a weight had settled on his shoulders.

He looked at his to friends feeling nothing more than a vague numbness. They stared back with wide eyed before swallowing Tucker asked in barely a whisper "What's happening to us?"

 _Right. What's happening? I should be trying to find that out._ The numbness started to recede a bit and then Sam finally found her voice. "Danny! What did your parent's stupid portal do to us?!"

He flinched and muttered, "I don't know," as his mind raced. _Right. Facts. Think about the facts. We're glowing. We've colour inverted. I can go intangible and invisible and I can float. Fly? This happened after my parent's ghost portal turned on with us in it._ A numb sort of terror started to creep into his mind. _I was in the portal when it activated. It electrocuted me. I can float, go invisible, go intangible and I glow. Those are the four signs of ghosts. But I can't be a ghost! (We can't be dead!)_

Simultaneously Sam and Tucker flinch. Snapped out of his thoughts as a sudden worry manifested he asked, "Guys are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Anxious green eyes skimmed over them as Sam shock her head wordlessly and Tucker stammered out, "Danny, what do you mean we can't be dead?"

"But I didn't say that, did I?" Danny looked at his friends uncertainly, "I just thought it, right?"

Tucker gave an uneasy shrug but Sam interrupted, "D-Danny. W-Why do think we've dead?"

His breath hitched and he blinked frantically, "Be-because I think we've ghosts. Or at least I'm a ghost. We've glowing and we look different. I've gone invisible and intangible and I've floated. My parents are Ghost Hunters. They made sure me and Jazz knew how to recognize a ghost. Ghosts are meant to be green and glow and the most basic ghost powers are supposed to be flight, intangibility and invisibility. After my parents' _Ghost Portal_ turned on with me in it, suddenly we are all a bit ghostly. And Ghosts…Ghosts are dead."

"Right," Tucker said shakily, "That's a rather compelling list of reasons for why we're de-Ghosts."

"I can't be a Ghost." Danny whispered, "My parents are Ghost Hunters, they'll kill me. They'll kill us. We need to be Human, we need to be alive. _We can't be dead!_ " A blinding flash of white-blue light lit up his waist and split sweeping across his body, bring with it a wave of warmth. He stumbled; blinking furiously as gravity suddenly tugged down fully on him again and looked up at his friends - his not glowing anymore living human looking friends - in astonishment.

With a desperate hope he turned to look in the mirror. His blue - BLUE - eyes hungrily took in black hair and a lack of glow. Turning to his not - NOT – glowing, black haired friends, he hugged them tight for a moment. Once he had calmed down a bit, he noticed how oddly smooth and warm against him they felt, and realised that he and his friends were stand equally butt-naked in his parents' rather cold lab. With a blush he let go of his friends and saw them blush too as they realised the position they were in.

"Um, err, we should get dressed?" he asked nervously as he stared at the lab's floor tiles. There were mumbles of embarrassed agreement as they shuffled off to carefully find where they had left their wet cloths.

Danny frowned in surprise when he found his cloths and pulled them on, noticing that they were only damp not half-soaked wet. After awkward pause; once dressed, he warily walked over to the portal and scooped up Tucker's PDA and glasses along with Sam's camera. Moments later Tucker walked over to him and wordlessly he passed him his glasses then his PDA.

Tucker broke the silence after another minute, "I think the power grid's shorted out. I don't really want to talk down here. Let's leave?"

Danny nodded jerkily and the three hurried carefully to the stairs, Danny flicking off the non-working lights of out of habit as they went. As he friends continued up the stairs he paused and carefully scanning the lab for signs of their presence. Deciding that there wasn't any - but the bright green glowing and working Ghost Portal along with the three hazmat jumpsuits missing from the cupboard - he started up the stairs.

Reaching the top of the lab stairs, they took in the darkened kitchen with relieved eyes. "Let's go to my room." Danny muttered, "I have a touch up there for light."

Wordlessly his friends followed him up the stairs and into his room. Closing and locking the door behind him, he glanced over at his friends who had numbly moved to sit on his bed.

He just stared for a moment letting the familiarity - safety - of his room wash over him. _Right, torch._ He thought; when the uncovered window suddenly flung the empty spaces of the room into sharp reflect with a flash of illuminating light.

He walked over to his bedside desk, placed Sam's camera on it, and pulled open the second drawn to grab a medium sized black torch. Flicking it on, he winced at the sudden yellow light, before glancing up at the silent forms of his two best friends.

An uneasy silence filled the air. Danny shifted, before walking over to the window. Looking out, he could see that the whole town seemed to be dark, while a lightning storm raged overhead. "The power out seems to be all over town. And the storm's gotten really bad."

"I should call my parents. Tucker said gesturing to his PDA, "Do you mind if I stay here for the night if the storm keeps up?" Danny shook his head in wordless agreement then looked at Sam.

She sighed and got out her mobile, both of his friends moving to opposite sides of the room as they rang their parents. Danny silently stared out at the storm until a warm hand on his shoulder started him out of his reverie. "My parents say it's fine for me to stay the night."

They moved over to the bed that Sam had flopped down on. Danny arched an eyebrow in question. "My parents say they will 'allow' it as long as I get home first thing tomorrow." Sam rolled her eyes in annoyance and the trio couldn't help but smile at the normality of that statement.

A more natural but still uncomfortable silence fell between the teens until they jumped up right as the front door slammed open. "Danny, I'm home." They simultaneously sighed in relief as they realised it was just Jazz. Danny's bedroom door open as and his sister's aqua blue eyes swept the room. "Oh, hi Tucker, hi Sam. Danny I'm going to be in my room to study; try not to interrupt me." Shutting the door Jazz headed to her own room.

"What are we going to do when my parents get back?" Danny asked as he frowned at the door.

"What'd you mean?" Tucker looked curiously from behind his glasses at his best mate.

"The portal, they've going to wonder why it's working now." Danny turned to both his friends. _And I don't know what would happen if they found out about the…accident._

Tucker frowned, fiddling absentmindedly with his PDA. "We could pretend not to know anything about it? They might just decide that there was a delay in the activation or that the storm did something. They don't have any cameras in the lab and the only things we disturbed were the hazmat suits. We should be fine unless we left something changed in the lab, right?"

"You're probably right. My parents will be too excited about the portal working to question too much why it is working. I don't think we changed anything around in the lab either." he grave a relieved smiled and they fell back into silence until Tucker's stomach rumbled loudly.

Laughing the three teens strongly pushed the portal accident into the denial and disbelief part of their minds as they wandered down to the kitchen to find some edible food.

 **Thanks for the reviews. I got three of them!**

 **To clarify on the Portal activation; Sam was in the very entrance of the Portal and was basically hit by the activation wave and very nearly immediately spat out, Tucker was fully in the Portal but not deeply and he was thrown out a second or two after Sam, while Danny was deep in the Portal and thrown out five or ten seconds after Tucker was.**


	3. Three For the Portal-Part 3

**I'm playing with other people's stuff for fun, not for profit, so if you recognise something; then it probably belongs to whoever owns the works I'm playing with, which in this case is whoever owns Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman or Nickelodeon Animation Studios or something; not sure exactly who or what, because I find it kind of hard to figure out, beyond that it is not me.**

The next morning Danny woke up slowly and not quite sure why. His room was still dark, which meant that it was much too early to be getting up, but he couldn't seem to go back to sleep. Frowning at the ceiling, he relaxed slightly as he listened to the quite sounds of steady breathing.

 _Wait._ Danny frowned in confusion at the sound of two other people breathing in his room. He rolled over and relaxed with a smile as he caught sight of two dark lumps on the floor, lit from the dim light provided by the glow of his alarm-clock. Sam and Tucker snoozed away in their sleeping bags on the floor, cushioned from the ground by two mats and a couple of pillows.

Reassured at the sight of his friends safe on the floor of his bedroom he read the number on his alarm-clock and stifled a sigh. **4:00** glowed back. _Much too early for the summer holidays._

Tucking his hands behind his head he lay back on his bed and stared absently at the glow-in-the-dark-stars scattered across his celling. Memories of what had happened yesterday came slowly bubbling up and he had nothing better to do then think on them.

 _Could I really be a ghost?_ He asked himself. The memory of just how cold and almost weightless he had felt come flooding back and this time without his friends awake to worry about it, he didn't push it way.

Eyes closed he thought about it all; how he had looked in the mirror, white hair swaying in a non-existent breeze, the way his who body seemed to give of a faint glow, the black jumpsuit plastered across his skin, boots, gloves, belt, collar, and half-finished D looking like a fancy P on his chest, and all of them a shade of white almost as pure of his hair. Most of all he remembered his eyes, glowing a bright, toxic shade of swirling ecto-green, which he was sure was the same shade as the Portal's Ecto-plasma, that had drowned his body in a cold so deep it burned worse than the electricity that a preceded it by a mere fraction of a second.

Shuddering, he opened his eyes, and stared back up at his glow-star splattered ceiling. Lifting his left hand in front of his face, he wasn't really surprised to find it was white glowed and glowing in the dark of his room. No, he wasn't really surprised with the way he felt _cold_ and _other_ and _free_.

 _A Ghost. I'm a Ghost. A Ghost living in the house of two Ghost Hunters, a Ghost that's the_ son _of two ghost hunters._ A mirthless laugh threatened as he considered the irony. _What would they do if they knew? Could they fix it?_ He snorted. _What am I thinking about; if I'm a Ghost then I'm dead. You can't_ 'fix' _being dead. The only thing my parents would think to do to 'fix' a ghost is killing it again._

 _Is that what they could do if they found out? Fix me, hunt me. Ghosts are evil. They're not_ human _. They're just blobs of ectoplasm held together by an obsession they can't let go. Not sentient. Not_ alive _. If I'm a Ghost then Danny Fenton is dead and I am just a phantom left behind to imitate his life._

 _But I don't_ feel _dead. Or at least I still feel things. I can think and I can be afraid my friends are hurt. If I'm a ghost I shouldn't_ feel _. Ghosts don't have emotions. And I am afraid, scared for myself and for Tucker and Sam. If I am a Ghost then what are they? And if I am not a Ghost then…_

 _What am I?_

Danny stirred from his thoughts as something buzzed in the back of his mind. He glanced automatically at Tucker and heard him grumble as he moved slightly. He didn't want Tucker to wake up to a Ghost in his best friend's bed and with that thought a ring of bio-luminescent blue-white light washed over him. It changed him back to human and he could _feel_ it; warm, heavy and familiar.

Moments later Tucker wiggled and stretched opening his eyes with a yawn. "Danny?" he asked sleep blurring his voice as felt around for his glasses. "What time is it?"

He glanced at the clock, "4:10, go back to sleep Tuck." A single thought crossed his mind as he looked at his best-friend, who mumbled his agreement and rolled over with a sigh to sleep back to sleep. _How did I know he was about to wake up?_

Once he was sure Tucker was properly sleep about fifteen minutes later, he turned his thoughts back to what had happened in the lab.

 _So maybe I'm not a Ghost. A Ghost shouldn't need to breath, shouldn't have a heart beat and I do. But even if I am a Ghost, what are Sam and Tucker?_

 _They were in the Portal, I think, but they are certainly still alive. I had the full run of ghost powers, glowing, flight, intangibility, invisibility and I think my freckles might have been_ green _? Which is just plain_ weird _. Sam and Tucker though, they just glowed a little and had some colour inversion._

 _Actually for how little we changed, at first glance we looked rather different. With her hair all down and shoulder length along with being white, plus pale green eyes and the slight white glow clouding her features Sam is barely identifiable. And her jumpsuit is pure white; no one is going to imagine Goth-girl Sam in white._

 _Tucker is even harder to tell; what with his beret and glasses missing he is practically unrecognizable. Sam dared him to grow out his hair out to at least shoulder length and micro-braid it a couple of years ago. He was planning to cut it off before we go back to school and no one has seen him without his beret while he was doing so. No one is going to look at the dark green eyes, white, almost shoulder length micro-braided hair and a white, ghostly glow to obscure his face and suddenly call him Tucker._

 _Actually I am probably the most recognizable but I also glow more than them and that makes it harder to tell what I look like. Plus the way my green eyes seem to whirl is probably rather distracting._

 _But anyway, neither Sam nor Tucker displayed any Ghost abilities. And they were clearly breathing and had a heartbeat. So may it was just some sort of ecto-contamination related mutation?_

 _Maybe._ He sighed, suddenly realizing just how tired he felt, the last of his energy from the transformation draining away. Pulling his blankets closer, he tucked his head against his pillow and drifted off with a faint _I wonder if we're telepathic now?_

# # #

Waking up at 9:30 to the smell of breakfast cooking, Danny rolled ungracefully out of bed. A thud had him glancing over at Tucker, who swore softly as he collided with the door frame, still dressed in his Pyjamas with his glasses in one hand. _Who's cooking breakfast?_

That thought spurred him out of bed after Tucker, because god only knew most of his family couldn't cook. Half rushing down the stairs past a sleepy Tucker he peered into the kitchen and sighed with relief.

Jazz was cooking the eggs and seemed to be considering starting the bacon. Sam next to her was frying some tomatoes and mushroom along with a few other vegetables in another pan. Wincing Danny gently nudge Jazz away from the stove and took over the eggs, "Jazz could you please handle the baked beans and make the toast."

His sister rolled her eyes but did so. While she wouldn't admit it out loud, she knew that her little brother was a better cook than her. On the other hand they were both better cooks then their parents, as they had learnt from a young age to escape their parent's dubious cooking skills. _Yeah,_ Danny winced at the thought, _Jazz mightn't be the best cook and has a tendency to burn her food but at least it doesn't come to life and attack you or be made completely from an unholy mixture of fudge and ham._

With a faint shudder at the very idea of his father trying to cook he called, "Hey, Tucker could you start cooking the bacon and sausages."

Tucker shrugged and grabbed the third saucepans, "So, nothing like meaty goodness to wake you up in the morning."

Glaring at her frying vegetables next to him, Sam grunted darkly. She was distinctly not a morning person. Lifting his pan of eggs, he flipped them onto a large plate and added some hashbrowns to his pan.

#

Half an hour later the four sat down at the kitchen table to eat. Taking something off every plate but the stack of toast Danny grinned in amusement at his friends' predicable choices. _Tucker is going to mostly eat from the sausage and bacon plate he made up. He will also take some toast from Jazz's toast stack and some eggs and hash browns from the plate I cooked up along with some of the bake beans Jazz made up but he will completely ignore the vegetable plate Sam made up. Sam is the exact opposite, taking mostly from her vegetable plate but having some from every plate but Tucker's meat plate. Jazz will just have a small piece from every plate; she's not as fussy as them._

Shaking his head he finished filling his plate and dug in. The kitchen was mostly silent for the next ten minutes as they ate but for the occasional request to pass something.

Sam finished first and put her dishes in the sink, "Jazz, once you're done eating do you mind driving me home? My parents are expecting me back soon. And I really need to shower and change."

Like Tucker, Sam had her own sleep bag at the Fenton household. Unlike Tucker she didn't have her own Pyjamas and changes of clothes. Tucker had had a section of Danny's room to himself since second grade and Danny had one at Tucker's house too. They sleepover often and sometimes randomly enough at each other houses that it was just easier that way.

"Sure," Jazz paused to eat the last bit of toast, "I'm heading out to the library anyway, so I can drop you off on the way."

Danny glanced over at Tucker and took the opportunity to ask, "Want to hang out for the rest of the day? My parents seem to be busy, so I was think we could go out. You can shower here and we can drop by your parents' house on the way."

Tucker stuffed the last sausage in his mouth and swallowed, "Sure. That sounds fun. I dibs the first shower."

He got up and placed his dishes in the sink before heading stairs. Danny sighed, listening to the sounds of Jazz and Sam leaving the house, finished his breakfast and started to wash the dishes.

#

Tucker came down fifteen minutes later, showered and dressed in fresh cloths. "Tuck, could you finish drying these and putting them away?" Danny stretched, "I need to have a shower."

"Sure." Tucker paused, touching the strap of his blue backpack. "Um, Sam left her camera on your dresser. I thought we should check what photos it has on it from last night."

Danny paused in the doorway, "That's strange of her, but good thinking Tucker. I'll be back down in fifteen or so."

Danny turned and walked up the stairs. Entering his room he opened his white closet doors and pulled out a pair of blue jeans, a white top with red sleeve lining, small red collar and a red circle in the middle. He then grabbed a pair of white socks and a red boxer from their draws. Entering the bathroom he locked the door and placed his clean clothes in the towel draw. Unbuttoned his blue astronaut Pyjamas, he pulled them off and dumped them in the corner by the door.

Turning the shower on, he hissed at the hot water before adjusting it to a slightly cooler temperature. Picking up the bar of soap he set to quickly cleaning himself.

 _We should probably go to the park. If you go far enough in, no else really bothers to. There's that small clearing by a pond I found a couple of years ago. It's a nice spot to watch the stars at night but I don't often go there because of the bloody bramble bushes in the way. Still me and Tucker can probably slip in and it's unlikely for anyone else to accidently stumble across us._

Danny turned off the shower and towelled himself dry. Pulling on his boxers, pants and top he wiped a patch of mirror clear. A slightly worried teenager with blue eyes and wet black hair plastered to slightly flushed skin looked back at him. With a sigh, he towelled his hair a bit more and picked up his PJs of the floor. Sniffing them as he opened the bathroom door, he grimaced at the sweat scent and dumped them in the washing basket.

Grabbing his keys and wallet from his room he turned to leave. Then he turned back around and grabbed a blue zip up jacket and a green cap. Padding down the stairs he called to Tucker, "I'm ready to go. You coming?"

Pulling on his red and white sneakers he tied the lacers as Tucker called back, "Yeah, coming in a moment. I'm just leaving a note for your parents on the table saying we are going out for the day and we'll ring if you're going to be out later then six."

"Thanks." Danny told Tucker with a smile as he opened the door. As they walked away from Fenton Works, Tucker only half-heartedly poking at his PDA, Danny told him, "So I was thinking of going to the park after we drop by your house. That sound alright?"

Tucker shrugged, "Sure. I guess I can stand the perils of nature for the sake of our friendship."

Danny laughed and shook his head. They continued to Tucker's house in comfortable silence.

Reaching Tucker's house Danny lent against the doorway as Tucker fetched his keys out of his backpack and unlocked the door. Following his friend into his house he grabbed a pen and paper and wrote out a note telling the Foleys that Tucker had come back to drop off his dirty cloths and that they would be out for the rest of the day.

Danny paused in writing the note and yelled, "Hey, Tucker is your PDA charged?"

"Yes, it's charged." Tucker called back.

"Good." Danny called lightly as he added to the note, Tucker has his PDA and we'll call if he's going to be out later then 6:oo. Clicking the pen, he left the pad laying on the table with the pen laid down to underline the note. Returning to the hallway he opened the door as Tucker approached zipping up his backpack.

"Ready to go?" Danny asked, halfway out the front door. Tucker nodded and followed him out, careful to make sure the door locked behind him.

"The park then?" Tucker inquired casually. Danny just nodded and they turned to chatting lightly about the normal sorts of things. The latest tech and new movies they'd seen or wanted to see. That casual small talk kept them going as they walked to the park and even as they headed in deeper. They only stopped talking when they had reached the darkest and wildest parts that were dark even in the mid-morning light.

Danny paused, and looked at the three trunked tree. "This way." he directed gesturing towards the tree. He gripped the middle trunk and used it to leverage himself against the second trunk and then stepped around the middle trunk on the third one at the back and off. Stepping down he looked at the way he had come through, and the bramble bushes on either side if you miss-stepped, "Um, pass me your backpack first Tucker."

He lent forward with one arm braced against a trunk as the other stretched out. Tucker passed his backpack into his hand after a couple of moments. He stepped back and waited for Tucker to come through with an amused grin at the slight cursing and crunching sounds as he did. After a few seconds of waiting, Tucker stumbled down from the triple trunked tree. He glared as he adjusted his beret and snatched his backpack back from Danny's hand. "The privacy in this place better be worth it."

Danny laughed at Tucker's grumbling, "Don't worry it is." He led his disgruntled friend a through a few more meters of bush and then it opened into a small but respectable grassy clearing next to a small, clear pool.

"See?" Danny turned arms out stretched, "Quite, isolated, unmonitored, not too uncomfortable and hard to get too." He sat down and with a sigh Tucker sat down next to him, "You still have Sam's camera."

Tucker nodded and pulled it out, "What do you take me for? Of course I have it."

"Good." Danny nodded, "But first before we look at that. I-" he paused and swallowed, "I think I can transform. You know," he gestured vaguely, "to how I looked back in the lab." He was stubbornly not looking at Tucker, "Jumpsuit, white hair, green eyes, glow and all. I think I did it again last night. D-do you want me to try now?"

Tucker was silent for a long moment, "I think so. You're my best friend and if this isn't going away then we're going to have to deal with it at some point. Only if you want to, but if you do, then I want to see you do it." Danny looked at him, "Remember I'm your best-friend since forever. I'm with you no matter what." Tucker reached over and clasped Danny on the shoulder with an encouraging smile.

Danny swallowed blinking back moist from gathering in his eyes. He gave his best-friend ever, his Tucker an openly grateful smile, "Thank you. _Thank_ you Tuck, I don't know if you know how much that means too me. No matter what happens, as long as you have my back I have yours, always."

He let that hang in the air for a moment before pulling back. Closing his eyes he focused on that _feeling_. _Cold, other, free and powerful. Wavy white hair, eerie toxic green eyes and white hazy ghostly glow._ Blue-white light flared but he kept his close and focused on those feelings until it died down. Then he opened them and was utterly unsurprised to see a lock off white hair hanging in his face. Licking his lips he turned to face Tucker.

His friend looked pale, eyes wide and breathe slightly rapid but when he saw the uncertainty in Danny's wide green eyes he managed to muster up a smile, "You glow like a darn glow bug, do you think the girls would like it?"

Danny laughed, bright and relived and just a touch shaky, "Of course it's all about the girls with you Tuck. Never change."

His friend laughed with him and they just sat there for around three minutes not quiet touching before Tucker spoke up, "You're cold when you're like this." Danny looked at him with a frown. Tucker waved his hand vaguely, "The air around you, it's slightly colder. And that glow? It's really distracting. I can tell you have white hair and green eyes and the general sort of shape of your face but I couldn't really describe what your face looks like. It's odd." Slyly Tucker added, "You know if you dated a girl like that and then met her like you look normally I doubt they'd recognize you. You look like a completely different person, but I _know_ it's still you. Which is kind of strange."

Danny looked at Tucker's confused face and sighed, "It's probably a good thing. If this is permanent I won't want anyone to connect this, my _ghost form_ with me, with Danny Fenton. After all, my parents are ghost hunters and I don't want to find out what they'd do to me if they found out about this." he shuddered, "Especially if I can still do those other ghostly things like turn intangible or invisible. My parents are ghost hunters and scientist and very interested in how ghosts work for all they think they are always evil and not alive. I don't want to know what test they would do on a ghost they managed to capture, especially one that looked like their son."

"Dude, you don't really think they would be that bad if they found out?" Tucker didn't quite look like he believed what he was saying, "They are your parents after all. They love you."

"But they're also ghost hunter and ghost hunting is their first love." Danny bit his lip, "I know they love me and Jazz but. But they're rather over enthusiastic and while they've never hurt us… Sometimes they have come close. By accident but their experiments are dangerous and they don't seem to understand that. Once we started going to school they forget about as sometimes. We learned to cook because Mum's food was ecto-contaminated and none of Dad's was edible. Eventually when we started making lunches, sometimes they forgot to feed us all together."

Danny looked at Tucker with a certain level of anguish in his eyes, "I love my parents and they love me but they are anything but perfect parents. I've seen your parents Tucker. They aren't perfect either but I know they love you and support you and would never hurt you. Sometimes I think your parents care more about my wellbeing then my own. Hell, sometimes when my parents are experimenting I feel safer at you house then my own."

Danny was hunched over now and Tucker couldn't even find his ghost form unnerving when he looked so miserable, "I don't often think about it because I love them but I'm also a little scared of just how fanatical they are. Now I'm a ghost, I'm terrified to think what they will do if they do find out and what they could do to me even by accident."

"Even worse," he blinked back luminescent tears, "I'm scared off what they would do to _you_." he looked at Tucker with a naked desperation in his eyes, "You and Sam. You were in the Portal with me. Sure you haven't really shown any signs of having powers yet but what if you _do?_ I'm their _son_ , even as a ghost I can hope they might hesitate. But you two might be my best friends but I doubt any hesitation they would give me would extend to you."

"Or what if you don't have powers?" he started at the ground, feeling just kind of tired, "What if you don't have powers but you look like a ghost and you show up as a ghost? What if they decide you're a ghost and you don't even have any ghost powers to protect you?"

A ring of blue-white light flared up around him and he transformed back to human form. Looking into Tucker's turquoise eyes, he just felt tired.

Tucker stared back at his best-friend and he found with a sort of hopelessness he _couldn't_ refute what Danny was say. Sure he could _hope_ but he didn't truly _believe_ what his friend was saying was wrong. In the end all he could offer was, "No matter what, we'll be there for you. And we'll face it together."

 **Thanks for the Reviews; I now have five of them!**

 **And that's were my partly written stuff runs out. I know where I want to go; I just have a pause on the next few scenes to get there.**


	4. Three For the Portal-Alt Episode 1

**Anything you recognize I probably don't own. There are also some parts of this taken directly from the Danny Phantom Show but it will get more and more different as it goes.**

 _(This is Danny speak thinking.)_ _(This is Sam speak thinking.)_ **_(This is Tucker speak thinking.)_**

Episode 1

Day One Afternoon

Staring at the back of his father's head Danny couldn't but wonder what had possessed him not to flee the house the moment he noticed his dad was about to go on a Ghost Hunting recruiting rant. _Oh, yeah,_ he remembered glancing at his friends who were sitting in chairs next to him in front of the closed portal doors, _we stepped in the Ghost Portal and now we need to know how to avoid my parent's inventions in case they try and kill us for being ghosts._

"So, Danny…" his dad said cheerfully, "you and your little friends want to hunt ghosts."

"Um, actually Dad?" Danny interrupted, "I want to be an astronaut." _Not that that would work anymore._ He thought somewhat bitterly. _But it's what Danny Fenton would be expected to say and how ever unlikely it is we can't have people noticing that something has changed._

Sam's voice interrupted my thoughts as she added her piece, "Sorry, Mr. Fenton. I _was_ into ghosts, but their so mainstream now. They're like cell phones."

 _That might even be true for her._ Danny snorted slightly and projected, _(What would you do if being Vegetarian ever became 'Mainstream', Sam? Become a meatasaur like Tucker?)_

Tucker looked almost scandalized as he raised his hands and added his opinion on hunting ghosts, "Waste these looks and all this charisma hunting _ghosts_? Criminal."

 _(Being a Vegetarian is a life style choice everyone should take up. We don't need to eat meat and doing so is both cruel and wasteful. I will never eat anything that once had a face.)_ Sam's mental sniped back at Danny but he could feel the fondness behind it.

Danny could sense Tucker dramatically gearing up to reply as his father continued his talk, "Well, if you do want to hunt ghosts, there are a few things you need to learn."

As Jack turned to the table behind him a faintly visible breath left Danny's mouth and he gave a full body shiver feeling every goose bump stand up. _(That's not good.)_

 ** _(No kidding._** **)** Tucker grumbled back as he turned to look at the portal door to the side of him. **_(Oh, damn. Guys, the Portal's opening.)_**

With that warning Tucker ducked off his chair as a tentacle flicked out of from the direction of the Portal but Sam isn't fast enough. Two ectopuses hovered over their chairs with Sam held in one of their grasps. _(Tucker, distract the one that has Sam.)_

Tucker looked slightly doubtful at the giant green creatures that were managing to hold Sam in one tentacle and their gaping black maws but well, he trusted Danny.

As Tucker lunged at the Ectopus holding Sam Danny ducked under a table and transformed with a flash of blue-white light into his Ghost Form. **_(Bite it Sam. Or damn well kick it; you're wearing your sodding combat boots after all.)_** Sam it seemed had taken Tucker's advice as the next moment the tentacle cross her mouth jerked back and with Tucker pulling on it, it dropped her.

Danny rammed into the ectopus that unoccupied had been moving towards his father, who with an absent sort of incredulity he realised, was still talking, not having noticed the ghost fight happening literally behind his back. "True, I've never seen a ghost, but when I do, I'll be prepared." Danny slammed the ectopus into the wall before he spun around and flung the Ghost straight back into the Ghost Portal before it recovered from its dazed state.

Sam and Tucker have been holding their own against the other ectopus by mostly attack it from one side then the other. The octopus shaped ghost is a bit confused by now so when Danny arrives and kicks it into the celling it doesn't think to go intangible. Grabbing one of its tentacles, Danny braced himself and used that leverage to fling it back through the open portal.

As Jack continued, oblivious, to talk, "It all starts with your equipment." Sam and Tucker hope back into their chairs and put on what slightly ruffled innocent looks as Danny transforms back into his Human Form. Quickly shutting the Portal Doors he managed to hop back into his see as Jack turned around.

Jack walked over to the three not noticing their flushed faces and slightly ragged breathing as he holds a green and white thermos like item in from off them, "Sam, Tucker, Danny, this is the Fenton Thermos." he hands it off to Danny, "It's supposed to trap ghosts," _(That could be useful.)_ Danny muttered eying the thermos with more interest as Tucker and Sam projected their agreement. "but since it doesn't work yet it's just a thermos." **_(Damn)_** Tucker murmured. "A thermos with the word 'Fenton' in front of it."

 _(My parents are crazy.)_ Tucker snorted but Sam replied, _(Mine are worse.)_ _(I didn't think that is possible.)_ _(Oh, trust me it is.)_ _ **(If you want us to believe that, you'll have to take us to your house someday Sam.)**_ Tucker added with an amused irony. **_(If they can top the ops-centre I'll admit they're more crazy them Danny's.)_**

Their attention drifted back to the closed Portal as Jack pointed at it, "And _that_? That is the Fenton Portal." _(Oh, we're familiar with that alright.)_ Sam snarked. "It releases ghost into our world"- ** _(How could we miss that when we spend all hours of our day chasing them down_** _._ _ **)**_ -"whether I want it to or not. And someday, I'll figure out how that"-Jack tapped the door-"works too." _ **(If he doesn't I will, then I can shut the damn thing and keep all the ghosts out.)**_

 _(I'm sure you will.)_ Danny thought as his father walked over to stand over the trio. "Now, who wants to hunt some ghosts." They stared back silent at him. "You kids, look at you!" _(Oh, no.)_ Danny moaned into his friends minds. "You're too excited to speak!" _(He's worse than_ Tucker _.)_ "So I'll just go on speaking." **_(Hey, I was never close to_** **that** ** _bad.)_**

They dissolved into mental quarrelling as Jack droned on.

# # #

Day Two Morning

Danny was stubbornly being busy eating his cereal and not eyeing the invention his mother was touching up with some welding cross the kitchen table from him. He can all but fell Jazz's annoyance next to him as she looks at Maddie over the top of her book "Surviving Adolescence Through Therapy" before returning to steadfast reading. He loves his sister really, but she is going to be in for a shock if it gets out that Ghosts are real.

He twitched as his hand tingled and focus on the feeling of solidness before he lost his spoon. Instead he redirected the intangibility down to his left foot. He's found since getting his powers that suppressing them all the time didn't work but redirecting the power surges did lend him a measure of control. _I hope those stop happening at some point._

"Okay, two more days, and it's done!" his mother exclaimed almost giddy and Danny looked up with concealed wariness as Jack appeared behind her.

"What did you say?" Jack grabbed the box shaped invention with what looked like receivers on it. "It's done?" _Oh, no._ "The Fenton Finder is done!" _That does not sound good._

Danny raised an eyebrow as he slowed in his cereal eating and just like he expected his Fa-Jack boasted, "This baby uses satellites to lead you right to the ghosts."

"It does what?" Danny asked with an incredulous sort of confusion even as with his mind he gently reached out to nudge the minds of his friends. _(Tucker. Sam. We may have a problem.)_

As Tucker and Sam brought their attention to him the Fenton Finder began to beep. "Welcome to the Fenton Finder." A woman's voice called out. "A ghost is near. Walk forward."

Danny stayed seated and just watched the Fenton Finder warily as his Jack and Maddie walked to him with a confused look on their faces. Putting down his spoon he raised an eyebrow at the satellite receiver right in front of his nose. "Ghost Located. Thank you for using the Fenton Finder."

 _(My parents have made a satellite scanning ghost locater called the Fenton Finder that leads them right to Ghosts. And it's picking up on me.)_

"What, oh, that can't be right." A confused frown set across Jack's face as he looked between the Fenton Finder and his son. For a moment Danny felt the coolness of invisibility settle across his legs but he didn't react. _Better then it happening somewhere visible._

 ** _(Yeah, that could be a problem but nothing I can't fix if you give me enough time)_** _(They seem to think it's malfunctioning but if this is going to happen a lot we might need an excuse. What do you think of Ecto-contamination?)_ _ **(It could work but how do you explain Jazz?)**_ _(That she only has a very low level, which Ghost Hunting equipment doesn't pick up on, but that we were home when the Portal went on and maybe it a blast of airborne Ecto-Plasma was released by it.)_ _ **(How would it have escaped the lab?)**_ _(My parents left the lab door_ open _when the Portal failed to work.)_ _ **(Okay, it seems like a sound enough argument.)**_ _(Sam?)_ _(Sure, I just hope they don't tell my parents.)_

"Actually, I need to talk to you about something." Danny told his parents as finished his cereal and stood up.

Jazz closed her book, "That's not all you need, Danny." She walked over to stand behind him, pushing her father back a little as she did so. "You need _guidance_ , and parents who can provide it."

 _(Oh, dear. I don't think I'm going to get around to telling them anything.)_ Danny observed in a gloomy sort of voice that did nothing to hide the fondly annoyed amusement colouring his mind. _(I think Jazz is on a roll.)_

"Sweetie, I know what we do doesn't make sense sometimes, but your only-" Maddie began with a long held expiration colouring her tone before Jazz cut her off.

"Sixteen. Biologically!" _(Right, see you at school. I'm just going to try and escape before Jazz drags me into this.)_ As Jazz continued on –"But psychologically, I'm an adult!"-Danny placed his bowl in the sink and started to sneak out of the room. -"And I will not allow your insane obsession with ghosts-" As Danny tied to sneak past her Jazz grabbed him and pulled him to her. "-to pollute the mind of this impressionable little child!"

 ** _(God luck getting away from that.)_** Tucker felt amused and Sam felt excited. _(See you at school.)_

Jazz looked down at him and Danny gave her a weirded out look as she said, "Come, you abused, unwanted wretch. I'll drive you to school." With a final glaze at her parents she walked off with arms around Danny's shoulder.

As they existed the room they could hear Maddie remark, "Huh. That's weird. Jasmine _never_ offers to drive Danny to school."

"That can only mean one thing." Jack said slow, "That's not our daughter; that's a ghost." _(Oh, gods my parents think my sister is a ghost because she's driving me to school.)_ Danny groaned in horror as his enhanced hearing picked up on what his parents were saying as they left the house. "Danny, No! It's a trap!" Jack ran out the front door yelling as Jazz's car took off.

 ** _(Just hope they don't turn up at school dude.)_** Tucker smiled at the feeling of mortified embarrassment that spread from Danny's mind.

# # #

Day Two Lunch

 _(So, anyone one had any serious problems with their powers?)_ Danny glanced around for anyone nearby; he had learned early on that their powers seemed to be influenced by emotion. So talking about them was an almost sure-fire way to make them act up.

 ** _(Not really. Had a limb or two go intangible while I was in my room but nothing public and nothing new.)_** _(No problems, but I went invisible for a minute when I was trying to avoid my parents.)_

 _(That seems consistent. Remember we need to stay alert for any changes.)_ They had noticed in the last month that Danny seemed to be the strongest of them. He was best at flying and his Ghost Form was easiest to access and it glowed the most. He also had problems with all of his powers accidently manifesting in human form. The only thing Tucker had manifesting in human form was intangibility while for Sam it was invisibility but hers seemed to be emotionally triggered only.

The trio turned a corner and entered Casper High's cafeteria. Sam smiled as she spotted a big white banner stating in blue writing that it was "Ultra Recyclo-Vegetarian" week and Tucker made a chocked sound. "Sam," Tucker turned horrified eyes on his Goth friend, "what have _you_ _done_?"

"I wore the school board down. They have finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu." Sam told her friends smugly as they lined up for their lunch.

Danny stared at what the canteen lady had given him. It was a bread slice- with bright green shoots growing of it. "What is this?" Danny asked Sam with a kind of horrified fascination, "Grass on a bun?"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Tucker cried backing away from the canteen line.

"Tucker," Sam smirked, "it's time for a change." She held up their 'lunch' which honestly seemed to be grass on a bun.

Tucker point-blank refused to get any of the 'grass on a bun' and so the trio made their way over to their usual table. Sitting down Danny eyed the apparent food before him with something approaching the same scepticism that he held regarding food made by his parents. Poking it with his spoon he asked, "Don't you think this is a little extreme Sam?"

Sam smiled then glanced up as Mister Lancer, their slightly out of shape, bolding vice principle, put his hand on her shoulder, "Ah, Miss Manson. The School board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment into our cafeteria."

Danny didn't pay him too much attention though as he eyed Tucker who was frantically sniffing the air, "Meat. Near." Tucker glared at Lancer who backed away, "No, no. The rumours about the new all-steak buffet in the teacher's lounge are completely untrue." Pausing for a moment to pull out and use a tooth pick he then patted Sam on the shoulder and said, "Thanks again." before walking off.

"Yeah, thanks again for making us eat garbage, Sam." Tucker said bitterly.

"It's not garbage." she protested in an almost snobbish tone holding up the 'grass on a bun', "It's recyclable organic matter."

Tucker and Danny traded a look and chorused, "It's garbage."

Sam glared and with a sigh Danny cautiously cut out a piece of grass on a bun. Goose bumps suddenly lifted all over his body and he frowned at the faintly visible blue mist that issued from his mouth. _(Guys, you might have noticed but we've got a ghost problem.)_

"Urgh!" he cried as a handful of mud landed on his head, "What the hell?" _(Make that two problems.)_

"FENTON!" Dash bellowed as he marched over with a plate of mud in his hands. "I ordered three mud pies. Do you know what they gave me? Three _mud_ pies. With mud." - _(_ _ **Really, Sam? Mud pies? No wonder Dash is pissed)**_ -"From the ground. All because of _your_ girlfriend!"

Any answer that Sam might have mentally made was cut off by twin ingrained protests, "She's not my girlfriend!"/ I'm not his girlfriend!"

Dash reached down and lifted Danny by his shirt a few inches of the ground. **_(Whoa, that must take some serious upper body strength.)_** _(Not helpful Tucker.)_ Danny made sure to look properly alarmed as he hung there with Dash right up in his face.

"These are the best years of my life! After high school, it's all downhill for me!"-( _Of course it is, your nothing but a muscle bound Jock and failing grades won't get you anywhere.)_ -" How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating _mud_?!" **_(Yeah, Sam, how am I supposed to relax and grow while eating mud? Men need meat to grow.)_**

"Actually," Sam sniped from where she had stood up to watch next to Tucker, "it's topsoil." _(Really_ not _helping Sam.)_

"Whatever!" Dash snapped as he tossed Danny at the table. Landing on the bench Danny groaned as Dash walked over and shoved the plate of mud in front of his face. "Eat it. _All_ of it."

He gave a grimace of disgust as he gripped the plate and raised his spoon then he shivered. Looking up he caught sight of a ghost moving behind the cafeteria kitchen counter. _(God damn it Sam, did you have to force a change on the menu without telling us? If we'd known that you were going to do this we could have just hid somewhere and avoided this.)_ Danny gripped the plate more firmly and threw it right into Dash's face.

As he dived under the table he yelled at the top of his lungs, "GARBAGE FIGHT!" Tucker and Sam followed his dive and hid under the table. As all the other students of Casper High start throwing their food and making a real ratchet Sam peeks out from behind the table and called indigently, "It's not garbage! It's-"

Danny grabbed her and pulled her back down. Glad that they choose to sit on the outer edge of the cafeteria they crawled towards the doors. Remarkably they managed not to get hit by any of the flying food. Behind them Dash bellowed, "You're gonna pay for this, Fenton!" and was subsequently hit on the head with mud. Twice.

"Glad to see I'm still his favourite." Danny muttered as he cleared the doors.

Tucker and Danny peer around the corner into the kitchen part of the cafeteria to see an elderly female human shaped ghost floating there as she looked at the bowls of salad. The woman was large, bluish skinned and wearing a pink cap hat with some white hair peeking out from underneath and a pink top with a white apron over it and yellow gloves. Pulling back they turned to confer with Sam. "Huh. It shouldn't be so bad. She looks a little like my grandmother." _(You have a scary grandmother then Tucker.)_

"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?" Danny wondered sarcastically as they mentally planned. _(Sam, Tucker you should go in and try talking to her. I will stay out and Transform into my Ghost Form in case we need to fight. Remember my name is Danny Phantom or just Phantom in Ghost Form. Are you good with this plan?)_

 ** _(Yeah, sure you've got our back, Danny. I mean Phantom.)_** _(I-. Fine. I guess this should work.)_

Sam and Tucker nodded to each other before stepping into the cafeteria kitchen and kicking the door gently closed behind them. In the hall Danny ducked into a corner and making sure there were no cameras or people watching transformed with a flash into his Ghost-Form Phantom.

Noticing the two students that had entered the room with her the Ghost Lunch Lady turned to them with a sweet smile and inquired, "Hello, children. Can you help me? Today's lunch is meatloaf, but I don't see the meatloaf. Did someone change the menu?"

Before Sam could go on a lecture about the greatness of being a Vegetarian Tucker spoke up, "Yeah," he pointed his thumb at Sam, "She did." **_(Get ready Danny, I don't think that's going to go over well.)_**

It seems Tucker's mental comment was right on the mark because the Lunch Lady's white hair suddenly turned flaming as he eyes flashed read and she yelled in an almost demonic echoing voice, "YOU CHANGED THE MENU?!" Intangible, Danny floated through the wall, into the kitchen. "THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR FIFTY YEARS!"

Green flames suddenly burst into existence around her. Danny floated in from of Sam and Tucker as an almost vortex of green light started to swirl above her and a strange wind whipped through the kitchen. "Stay behind me." he commanded.

"Wow, I feel so safe." Sam commented sarcastically as Tucker slowly pulled her towards the doors.

Danny floated towards the enraged Lunch Lady with an impassive look on his face, "Lunch Lady, Amity Park is mine. I don't permit Ghosts who are causing damage or threatening humans to remain. Either calm yourself or leave."

 ** _(Nice poker face dude. Though I don't think it's going to work.)_** Danny smiled a little as he noticed the Lunch Lady's hand begin to glow and she pointed at him as the piles of dishes around the sink begin to glow then fly. Danny didn't bother turning intangible, he just dodged out of the way and let them hit the wall behind him. Noticing the Lunch Lady launching another bigger stack of dishes at Sam his Ghost Tail activated and he flew in front of her, catching them in neat stacks with his arms and hands. A second bunch flow at Tucker but Danny caught those too with a few balanced on his head and shoulders.

 _How the hell are these actually stacking? Never mind it's probably a ghost thing like the strength._

Flying over to shrug them off onto a counter while keeping a wary eye on the Lunch Lady he commented rather sardonically, "Well, if this superhero thing doesn't work out, I can have an exciting career as a busboy."

Picking a couple of plates of his head he frowned as he noticed them reflecting three glowing stoves moving behind him. Floating towards his friends who were sneaking towards the kitchen doors he listened to the enraged yelling of the Lunch Lady, "Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules!"

"Anybody want cake?" Danny stilled confused by the sudden switch to calm, sweet grandmotherly tones and lack of fire while a startled Tucker and Sam nodded. Angrily the Lunch Lady snapped, "Too bad! Children who change my menu do not get dessert!"

She phased through the ceiling while green flames began to emit from the three stoves. The green flames then leapt out of the ovens in great streams like water jets towards Sam and Tucker who were forced to jump away from the kitchen doors to avoid them. _(Danny! We need to get out of here!)_ Sam called mentally to Danny as he dodged the third blast of flames.

 _(Stand close.)_ Danny called as he flew towards Sam and Tucker. Behind him the three glow stoves managed to look angry as they flow through the air towards the two. As the stoves start to spew flames Danny flew to his friends and gripped them by the shoulders. His ghostly glow flared and spread to cover them and they turned intangible along with him.

As they flow through a wall out of the kitchen Tucker mentally commented, **_(Jeez, I'll never get used to how weird that feels when someone else is doing it.)_** _(Aren't you glad we practiced?)_ Danny asked as he dropped the intangibility and let go of them in a school hallway. He then winced as he heard the stoves slam into the wall behind them which trembled from the force.

"This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual?" Sam exclaimed in irritation, throwing out her arms in question

"No," Danny deadpanned, "this is what you get for trying to force everyone to do the same thing as you."

Sam looked faintly like she'd been slapped before a loud crash interrupted them. Worriedly the trio looked around as the lights sparked and smoked then went out and the hallway began shaking violently. The rows of lockers all along the hallway suddenly start bursting opening as their supplies come pelting out and flew down the hallway.

The trio stare in shock as the supplies start too whirled around behind the Lunch Lady who was suddenly standing at the other end of the hall. Tucker sniffed the air and turned around all but mouth-watering, "Streak…Ribeye..! No, porterhouse! Medium-rare!" Tucker called out as meat products flow past him before he lunged at a passing steak. Shockingly enough he managed to grab and make a good start on eating it before it was pulled from his hands by the force off the Lunch Lady's call.

Danny and Sam stare in shock at the Lunch Lady who as completely covered herself in meat but for a pair of mean looking green eyes. She now resembled some sort of sludge monster made of red meaty slop more than anything else. _Why does Casper high have such high ceilings?_ He wondered absently as he stared up at it/her

Tucker meanwhile was more bothered by something else. "But where did it come from?" he wondered aloud before suddenly exclaiming, "Lancer!" A piece of paper hit him in the face and he battered it off seeming ready to go and hunt down the vice-principle to demand that he feed him some meat.

 _(Tucker! This is so not the time!)_ Danny called as he looked the meat covered ghost that towered over the three of them. Tucker snapped his attention back as the Lunch Lady menacingly exclaimed while pointing at Sam, "Prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the five food groups!" then she paused for a moment and asked politely, "Cookie?"

Wide eyed Sam shook her head which seemed to surprise the ghost before it raised a clawed hand, "Then perish!"

"Forget _it!"_ Danny exclaimed as he pushed Sam and Tucker back. _(Stay close, I don't think I can fight this ghost straight on. We're going to have to run.)_ He pointed at the Lunch Lady, "The only thing that has an expiration date here is _you_!"

The Lunch Lady made to swat at them but Danny clasp hands with Sam and Tucker and dropped through the floor. Returning to tangibility to moment they hit the next levels clear air space Danny flow quickly towards the wall and slipped into intangibility again. Flying free of the school Danny switched to invisibility before anyone saw them.

 ** _(We're ditching school then?)_** Tucker asked with a grin. _(Yeah, school doesn't exactly seem safe right now.)_ Danny flow over the park and then moved down. As he hit the trees he dropped his invisibility for intangibility. _(But what about the other students? You can't just leave them! You have to save them, Danny!)_

As they landed Danny and Tucker gave Sam matching looks of disbelieve. _(How is it my responsibility to save them?)_ _(Because you have Ghost Powers. It's your duty to protect those who don't from Ghosts.)_

 ** _(Yeah, I don't see how that works.)_** Tucker commented. _ **(You have Ghost Powers too Sam. I don't see you leaping in to save the 'helpless humans'.)**_

 _(But-)_ Sam started to protest before Danny cut her off. _(Anyway the Ghost wanted to kill_ you _because you changed the menu. The rest of the students should be fine. And if they're not... I'm only 14 Sam, it's not my job to_ die _for them. If you don't mind I am going to spend the next couple of hours sleeping. Wake me up when we should be heading home.)_

With that and having checked that there was no one watching Danny promptly transformed in two bluish-white rings of light to his Human Form and passed out. Tucker caught him and lowered him to the ground with a glare at Sam. **_(It's not his job to risk his life saving people from Ghosts and he's under no obligation to do so. I won't stand by and let you get my best-friend killed again.)_**

Taking out his PDA Tucker sat down next to Danny and was promptly engaged with arguing with Sam for the next few hours. Verbally they fought about Sam's change to the school menu, their normal Meat vs Vegetable stuff but when they could call up the energy and focus with Danny asleep, then in their minds they fought over Danny and who he was to them and what he should be doing.

Tucker, it seemed, was not happy that Sam was trying to manipulate his best-friend into risking his life for the people of this town and Sam was angry that he wasn't using his powers to do what she saw as right. In the end Tucker argued that it was Danny's choice and he'd stand by his best-friend no matter what he choice and he wouldn't let Sam force her choices on him.

# # #

Day Three Morning

The next day Danny walked into school with a look of disbelieve on his face although secretly he was impressed that both of his friends had actually managed to come through on plan.

To one side were the Meat Lovers; to the other were the Vegetable Eaters. At the head of each parade were Tucker and Sam. Keeping to the plan Danny commented for anyone who might be listening, "Or not. Maybe it'll be worse."

As Tucker shouted into his microphone, "What do we want?" _I wonder where he got the stage and hot dog dancing girls from?_

And was answered by a roaring cry of, "MEAT!" from the crowd.

Danny remembered the idea they come up with. Sam and Tucker had been simmering with fury when they had walked to the Fenton home with Danny. Knowing that a month ago, before the accident Sam's menu change would have resulted in a massive fight with Tucker, they had staged one.

Tucker's call of, "When do we want it."

And the roar of, "NOW!"

Momentarily distracted by the wave of sound Danny then returned to his thoughts. Sam and Tucker were furious with each other but they probably would have put it aside grudgingly for Danny and the Lunch Lady. Danny though knowing that they really couldn't be seen acting unusually had told them that if they wanted to have a massive argument then have a massive argument.

Sam and her Veggie eater's chanting distracted Danny again, "VEGGIES NOW! VEGGIES FOREVER! VEGGIES NOW! VEGGIES FOREVER!" _Did Sam steal the Casper High School truck?_

Together they had semi-staged a massive screaming match about the Casper High menu at Danny's house before storming off. They had then both managed to pull up enough people to form a protest the next day. While Danny had known they would be doing the protests he was still impressed by the speed and size they had managed.

As Sam and Tucker marched over to him he pulled his thoughts back to the present. With an only partly fake disbelief he asked, "You guys put together two protests in one night?"

"Meat-eaters, Danny." Tucker said knowingly while glaring at Sam, "Always ready to fight. And our high-protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly."

From his other side Sam sniped back, "Ultra recycle-vegetarians are always ready to protest. And because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster."

"Don't you guys think this is a little extreme?" Danny asked raising his hands; he had to admit, even knowing this was a good part fake, it was still almost frightening.

Still glaring Tucker replied, "No choice, buddy. You're either with me!"

"Or you're against him!" Sam snarled.

"So whose side are you on?" They asked together as he cringed back.

Danny was 'saved', for the dubious value of being saved, from having to reply by the sky suddenly turning grey and the wind picking up. He shuddered as his Ghost Sense went off and the three of them exchanged grim looks as the problem they had been worried about arrived.

The brown leafed trees shook from the force of the wind and for a moment it almost looked like a hurricane was going to form but instead the vortex started sucking in meat. A woman's cackle echoed around the place as a meat truck was punchered by streams of wet meat that flew off into the vortex. A truly massive torrent of meat formed as it was drawn from all over the place _(That's a little bigger than I thought it would be.)_ _ **(Yeah.)**_ it circled around a middle stream in great rings.

The protesters had mostly looked rather bewildered until the meat flow in the air had formed a giant meat monster. "It's lunchtime!" The Lunch Lady bellowed in her meat form to screams of terror from all the protesters as they fled.

The trio had fled too. Tucker had screamed while running, "Meat! Why have you betrayed me?!" Like everyone else they ran in terror but unlike everyone else they discreetly slipped into a hidden spot to watch unseen instead of continuing to run.

 _(Anyone got a view of us?)_ Danny asked grimly as he started up at the, frankly massive meat monster. _(No.)_ _ **(No, people and no cameras either.)**_

 ** _(You sure about this plan? You don't have to if you don't want to Danny.)_** He could feel the concern and care-loyalty-friendship from Tucker's mind even as Sam bristled. _(No, I'm sure Tucker. I mean it's only until my parents or someone else gets here to deal with her.)_

With vertical bluish-white rings from around his waist Danny transformed into his Ghost Form. Nodding to his friends he flew towards the Lunch Lady. _I think its mouth is big enough to swallow me without trying._

Ramming into her with a vicious punch to the gut that folded her over and sends her sliding back he darts back up into the air before she can swat him out of the air. He then dodges a punch. And another punch Then he flew past an upper cut to deliver a kick in her head that knocked her down.

Trying to take advantage of the ghost's disorientation Danny dived down and kicked her again but wasn't fast enough to dodge a punch that blind-sided him with a glancing blow.

It sent him flying through the air and into the clouds. He blinked. Then accidently yelled _(Airplane!)_ down his mental link to a worried Sam and Tucker as he turned intangible.

With some amusement he caught sight of the plane's shocked looking passengers before he reorientated himself and dived back down.

 _(Are my parents there yet?)_ _ **(No, they don't seem to have arrived.)**_ _(Please don't tell me when there is an actually dangerous ghost terrorizing my school that they haven't noticed.)_ _ **(It seems like it)**_ _(Fuck.)_

Danny focused as he sped up in coming down and aimed right for the meat monster. He collided fist first with a loud thump and bang as meat was sent when flying everywhere. It even sent up an orange cloud from meat juices. Unfortunately he didn't pull up fully in time a left a small crater in the ground with his feet. _(Least I managed to get the right way up instead of hitting the ground arms first.)_

"Oh, dear." Danny floated up slowly to look warily at the Lunch Lady, "What a mess! Are you okay?" _(It seems my attack managed to destroy her Meat Monster form but her normal ghost form is still here.)_

"Yeah." he replied warily getting ready to fight, "I think so."

The Lunch Lady smiled then snarled, "TOUGHT! BECAUSE YOU BEING OKAY IS NOT PART OF MY BALANCED DIET OF DOOM!"

Danny watched with an internal groan as five streams of pulped meat leapt from the crater behind him to form in front of him five smaller meat monsters. He flow back a bit, noting as they jumped after him that they couldn't fly. Timing it carefully, Danny suddenly turned in a flying kick that managed to cut through all the meat monsters before he landed in a crouch on the ground.

He turned to look at the meat monsters and softly swore as they reformed. _(Damn, don't suppose any one as any smart ideas of how to get rid of these before I run out of energy?)_

There was a pointed silence in his mind as he took of back into the air. _Double damn_ , he thought as he noticed that the monsters where flying after him. Taking off into the air quickly he checked that they were still following him before turning and abruptly diving towards the ground. They followed and he pulled up with a burst of intangibility the five meat monsters ploughed straight into the ground.

Floating above them he frowned as they started to slowly reform. _How can I stop them?_ Something suddenly collided with his head and he blinked in surprised as he reflexively caught the Fenton Thermos. _(It's supposed to trap ghosts but it doesn't work. How can I fix it?)_

 ** _(Maybe it needs power?)_** _(Thanks Tucker.)_

Focusing Danny powered his bluish-white transformation over the Thermos. _Hopefully that infused it with my Ecto-energy or something. Please work._ He opened aimed the Thermos then flipped the lid open. A bluish glow overpowered his normal ghostly white one and a stream of bluish energy sucked in the ghostly meat monsters.

 _(Yes! It worked.)_ Shutting it he flew towards the Lunch Lady but not before he noticed the rest of his family staring at him in surprise. _Guess that's the first time they've seen a Ghost._ "Thanks for the Thermos!" he called back at them and heard his father yell something about Ghost kid and being right.

Slowing slightly as he approached the Lunch Lady he braced himself to be attacked with the Thermos gripped tightly in his hands. Seeing the Thermos she called angrily, "NO! Soup's not on today's menu."

"Well then," he called as he gripped the Thermos lid and aiming it, "I guess I'm changing the menu, _permanently_!"

The Thermos released a bluish stream of energy and Danny grunted a little at the backlash as it caught the Lunch Lady in an almost net of it. Holding on tight he ignored her wail of "NOOO!" as she struggled and held on tightly as the Thermos sucked her in. Capping the Thermos he panted for breath before he picked up on the sound of his parents approaching.

Turning invisible he flew over to where Sam and Tucker had watched the whole thing. At Tucker's nod he let himself transform back into Human Form with a sigh. **_(Nice work with the Thermos.)_** Danny smiled weakly _(My parents have their moments.)_

He looked over as Jack came bouncing onto the field with the Fenton Finder in hand and Maddie and Jazz following behind. _(Come on. Let's go before my parents or anyone else notices us.)_

Silently they slipped away towards Fenton Works, just barely avoiding a furious looking Lancer.

 **You might notice the time skip here. Originally I was going to write that month between the Portal Accident and the first episode but I got distracted and lost interest in writing this story before I got around to it.**


	5. Three For the Portal-Alt Episode 2

**Anything you recognize I probably don't own. There are also some parts of this taken directly from the Danny Phantom Show but it will get more and more different as it goes.**

 _(This is Danny speak thinking.)_ _(This is Sam speak thinking.)_ **_(This is Tucker speak thinking.)_**

Episode 2

 _(I'm going to check on what's Jack's doing down in the lab, alright.)_ **_(Sure Danny.)_** _(Be careful)_ _(I always am Sam; after all I live with them.)_ Danny paused at the bottom of the steps to the lab for a moment. Then he shrugged off his purple backpack just pass the first lab table and walked over to Jack, "Hey, Dad. What are you doing?"

"Danny, Keep it down. You'll scare away the ghosts." Jack pointed at his fishing pole which had a long almost blue light like string entering the portal from it but Danny found himself momentarily distracted by his ridiculous head gear. It seemed to be a yellow had with two red bottles attached to it and two tubes coming of them to his father's mouth. "It's the Fenton Ghost Fisher. I'm fishing for Ghosts." Jack paused in reeling in the line to stretch out a bit to show Danny, "Check out this line. Coated in a special high-test ectoplasmal resin that ghosts can't break. Quiet now. Don't wanna spook'em."

Danny stared blankly as his father recast his line and drank deeply from his tube things. _(Tucker, we have another potential problem. Fishing line coated in high-test ectoplasmal resin that ghosts can't break apparently.)_ Suddenly his father's stomach rumble just as Tucker replied **_(We're probably going to have to break into the lab again at some point.)_**

"Whoa!" Danny twitched at his father's exclamation, "That soda goes right through you like Sherman through Georgia." he shoved the Fenton Fisher into Danny's hands, "Here! Hang onto this. I'll be right back after I use the Fenton Urinal."

As his father jogged off up the stairs the line suddenly went taught and he shivered as his Ghost Sense chilled his body. _Go Ghost and risk running into my parents as Phantom or face whatever is coming out of the Portal in Human Form._ Danny strained against the line then stumbled as it snapped. _Oh fuck._ He went Ghost just before a blue dragon with green horns and a golden neck something poked its head through the Portal.

 _(I think I'm about to fight a blue dragon in my parent's basement. On the other hand I think the Dragon Ghost managed to break the Fenton Ghost Fisher.)_ Danny drifted backwards as the ghost fully emerged from the Portal with the fishing line hanging from its' mouth. Then it roared and Danny twitched to the side to avoid the end of the broken fishing line.

Danny backed up even further as it said deep voiced, "I want to go!"

"Um, ghost dragon?" he floated closer which turned out not to be the wisest thing to do as he narrowly avoided a swipe from its claws as it snarled, "I _have_ to go."

"Unfortunately I can't let you cause havoc in the human world." he dodged another two swipes from the dragon ghost before diving under a stream of green fire it breathed. He then moved forward and lashed out with a kick that sent it flying across the room with a glimmer of gold.

Danny blinked in surprise as upon landing near his backpack the blue and green ghost dragon transformed into a green skinned, blond haired Ghost girl. "All I wanted was to go to the Princess Costume Ball." she said softly and Danny blinked again as with a sob of, "And my horrid mummy won't let me!" she fled back through the Portal.

Danny glanced around but seeing it was clear, quickly transformed back into Human From. _(Guys, the Ghost Dragon is gone. Weirdly enough when I kicked it, it transformed into a ghost girl on landing.)_

He looked up as is father bounded back into the room before he exclaimed, "Darn, I almost forget!" and shoved two cans of soda in to Danny's hands and run back out. Danny rolled his eyes as he heard the toilet flush.

# # #

Danny eyed his best-friend with amusement as he held the door, which had a banner above it reading 'THE BIG DANCE", open for approaching girls. "Hey there, I-"

The first girl to enter-wearing a green dress and with long brown hair-cut of Tucker with a curt, "No!"

Tucker tied again, "Hi, would you-"

"Forget it." The next girl-wearing green pants, a short red top and with shoulder length blond hair-snapped and Danny winced in sympathy.

Tucker turned towards the next girl-short dark hair, a purple crop top and a short pink skirt- but with a raised hand she pre-empted him, "No!"

As Danny laughed softly Tucker protested, "I didn't ask you yet!"

Shaking his head Danny turned into the school to find Sam.

# # #

Danny glanced up from his lunch as Tucker slumped onto the bench next to him elbows on the table and chin supported morosely on his palms. "Strike three, yet Tuck?" Danny asked with amused sympathy.

"Try strike three thousand." Tucker groaned.

"I don't know what the big deal is about going to some stupid dance. I don't need to be asked to some dance to know I'm special. I-" Sam huff before realizing that neither of her friends were paying attention to her. "What?" she snapped in annoyance.

"Paulina…" Danny and Tucker replied dreamily. _(Sorry, Sam but she's a safe bet to pretend to have a crush on. We'd stand out more if we didn't.)_ _ **(Doesn't mean she's not hot.)**_ _(Tucker)_ Sam mentally growled. **_(What? Just because she's shallow and we're never going to date doesn't mean I can't appreciate her natural features.)_**

"Paulina…" They sighed again as they took in the trail of love-struck or perhaps lust-struck teenaged boys she left staring in her wake.

"Oh, please." Sam scoffed, "Girls like her are a dime a dozen."

Danny had to press down a rather inappropriate laugh as he and Tucker started digging through their pockets for loose change. Looking at Tucker Danny asked with quiet excitement, "How much change you got?"

"Ha, ha." Sam laughed sarcastically, "Very funny. Just remember: you can't judge a book by its cover."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Tucker pointed out slyly, "Go on, Danny. Go to that library and check out that book!"

"I can't!" Danny protested, "I get weak-kneed when I try to talk to cute girls." _(Well, I don't really but 'Danny Fenton' certainly does.)_

"Oh," Sam narrowed her eyes, "and you have absolutely no problems talking to me."

"Uh…" Danny floundered. **_(Oh, no we get weak knees talking to you Sam because our shins are too bruised to hold us up.)_** _(Shut up, Tucker.)_ _(Guys, calm down.)_

"Skip it." Sam walked over to Danny and lifted him up by the arms, "Go give your weak knees some exercise."

At Sam's push Danny stumbled over to Paulina and leant against the tree she was eating under with one arm. Taking a deep breath he managed to say, "Hi! I…" before he 'slipped' and 'accidently' fell over.

"Please!" Paulina scoffed, "Don't say you've suddenly fallen for me. That line is _so_ last semester."

Standing back up Danny stuttered, "Yeah! I-I mean, no! T-that's not it. I'm..I'm Danny." He blushed; she looked at him with remarkable disinterest. _(Sam, you put me over here, get me out before I have to ask her out.)_ _(Fine, Danny, I guess you don't really deserve to be trapped speaking to_ her _.)_

Sam walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Kudos, Danny. You just set an all-time speed record for drowning in the shallow end of the gene pool"

Paulina paused for a moment to work out what Sam just said while Danny blushed even deeper. Paulina's eyes light up in recognition and then narrowed, "Oh, no! You did _not_ just call me shallow, did you?!"

Sam smirked, "If you mean do I think I can stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet wet, then yeah."

"Shallow?! I'm not shallow." Paulina said as Sam grabbed Danny and pulled him off. _(Damn it Sam I know we have to act like normal but I think you might have done it this time.)_ _(Don't worry. What's the worst she could do?)_ _ **(You mean besides set Dash on him.)**_ Sam mentally winced, _(Yeah, besides that.)_

Danny who had been using his enhanced sense of hearing to listen in on Paulina winced as he heard her say darkly, "On the other hand, I'm not so deep that I couldn't lure a boy away from a goth geek. And I will." _(Guys, I think she might try and date me.)_

 _(WHAT?!)_ _ **(What?)**_ His friends exclaimed simultaneously and he winced. _(Sam, not so loud please. And I heard her muttering as we left about luring me away from you.)_

# # #

Waiting for Danny to finish pulling his books from his locker, Tucker watched all the nearby girls walking past before he turned to Danny with a grin, "Thanks to you, I now know the quickest way out of a woman's heart: having your girlfriend call them shallow."

"Sam's not my girlfriend." Danny replied almost reflexively before he sighed, "Man, I blew it yesterday. Paulina probably won't even look at me now." _(Well I can always hope anyway.)_

"Yoo-hoo, Danny." Paulina waved from down the hall as al of the guys around her sighed lustfully. _(So much for hope.)_ _ **(Tough luck dude.)**_

"Or not!" Danny brightened as he looked at her, "Hey Tuck?"

His friend grinned, "I get it. I'm out." he started to walk off then rushed back, "Good luck." he told him then ran out as Paulina got closer.

"Hi, you." Paulina called, then laughed flirtatiously, "I just wanted to…"

 _(I'm not sure which one is better, Dash or Paulina.)_ Danny commented before Dash, who had appeared out of 'nowhere' as it seemed to oblivious 'Fenton' slammed him into his locker with a clang as his bag slammed against the side on the way in and shut it. As Dash leaned casually against Danny's locker he shifted uncomfortably but refused to use his ghost powers to make himself more comfortable. _(Because I think I might have just been rescued from Paulina by Dash.)_

"Meet me? Who doesn't?" Danny sighed as he heard Dash flirting with Paulina against his locker, "Dash Baxter. All-star quarter-back and school hero. I'm also-"

Danny tuned him out and focused on his friends' mental conversation instead. **_(Ouch, that sounds uncomfortable. Stuck in your locker I suppose.)_** _(Yeap, where else would Dash stick his favourite punching bag?)_ After a short pause Danny commented _(You know I think something might have fallen out of my backpack when he shoved me in here but I'm not sure. I just think I heard something metallic, hitting to the ground when he was shoving me in here.)_

"Oh, my gosh!" Danny focused on would be could here outside his locker as Paulina's tone changed to excited, "What's that?"

"That? Uh, you like it?" He could hear Dash asked her uncertainly.

"It's beautiful!" Paulina gushed and Danny grimaced at the tone.

"Great! Because," he heard Dash pause for a second sounding uncertain before he continued on confidently, "Because I got it for you."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. I got it for you if you agreed to go to the ball with me but it must have fallen out of my pocket." Listening to them Danny couldn't help but wonder if Dash was lying. _Maybe it's whatever fell out of my locker?_

"Well, you are kind of hot and an popular like me." Paulina paused for a second, "I'd love to go with you."

Danny listened to the sounds of them walking away. Cautiously he pushed against his locker door and sighed in relief when it opened. _(Well, guys it seems that Paulina is going to the Ball with Dash. And luckily for me he forgot to lock my locker when he shut it so I'm not stuck.)_

Danny tumbled in a manner that looked rather clumsy from his locker with his bag but was actually carefully calculated to both keep up his 'clumsy Fenton' front and not damage anything. He looked up as Mister Lancer walked by but the teacher just shook his head and continued on.

# # #

 ** _(Do you think your Dad's caught anything?)_** _(With the Fenton Fisher? No, while he's repaired it he hasn't caught anything.)_ Tucker turned from their mental conversation to, 'Mmn' at a passing girl dress in purple and with orange coloured hair, as his mouth was rather too full of food but the girl seemed to understand what she was asking and just said, "No."

Danny snorted and Tucker shrugged before turning back to eating. After a couple of minutes of silence Sam spoke up, "Honestly, guys, I'm glad I'm not going to the stupid dance. Saves me the embarrassment of wearing the lame dress my parents bought me." she added the last pit with a nervous laugh.

"So no one's asked you, hum." Tucker commented.

Sam shifted in her sit, "Maybe if I was as pretty as Paulina."

Danny frowned at her, "Why are you so down on her? So she's pretty. It's not a crime."

"Looks are deceiving, Danny." Sam scowled then turned around as people started screaming.

As Danny's ghost sense went of the trio ran for it. Ducking into an out of the way corner Danny glanced at Tucker who was typing rapidly way on his PDA. Tucker nodded. **_(No camera's on us.)_** _(Sam.)_ _(No people looking.)_ _(Then I'm Going Ghost!)_

With a flare of blue-white light Danny transformed into his ghost half and turning intangible shot through the ceiling. Moving over towards where the screaming and running people had been coming from, he phased back through the roof. On seeing the blue and green ghost dragon he couldn't help but remark, "Say, haven't we met somewhere?"

The dragon roared, distracted from the person it had been chancing and turned to swipe at him. Fortunately he was too high for it to aim properly. Dropping down he lashed out with a kick to the dragon's left side. It roared, claws screeching against the floor before it breathed fire at him. He dodged upwards.

"Must have tee!" the dragon roared.

"Tea? Ooh, good idea." he dodge another swipe from its claws as it reared up to attack him. "Coffee could make you a mite jittery, you know?"

"Better yet…" he dropped intangibly into the ground to avoid another blast of green flames. Still intangible he fly upwards with one arm out stretched and called, "Have some punch!" as he struck.

The dragon went flying and then strangely enough glowed and rapidly shrunk to vanish. Turning invisible he floated over but all he saw was Paulina with a shopping bag. _Suspicious, but she could just have really terrible survival instincts._

Turning intangible he dived back through the ground. _(Clear?)_ ( _Clear.)_ Sam confirmed and invisibility he floated out of the ground next to them before changing back to Human Form.

 ** _(You alright?)_** Asked Tucker. _(I'm fine. But that's the second time I've fought that dragon. The last time was in my parents lab but it flow back through the Portal after turning into a Ghost girl. I think we need to investigate.)_

Switching back to speech he asked as they walked away from their hiding spot, "How are you guys?"

"Great…" Tucker answered, "if you don't count me still being dateless for the dance." he began screening down his PDA, "Sasha, no. Denise, no. I've hit every girl in school except…Valerie."

"Yeah, hi." Valerie spook up from where she had walked up behind him, "Sucker, is it?"

"Tucker." He corrected, "Or Tuck. Or Tuckerino."

"Which ends with "no." Valerie told him, "Which, by the way, is my answer, unless something happens in the next five minutes that makes me dateless."

Danny raised an eyebrow as Kwan walked up to her, "You'll never guess what happened! Donna said she'd go to the dance with me, so you're dateless."

As Kwan walked away Valerie turned to Tucker and simply said, "You're on." _(Must be fate.)_ Danny deadpanned.

"I'll take it!" Tucker exclaimed with a grin as Valerie turned and walked of, "Some may call it the rebound, but I call it a yes! I got a date! Whoo!"

# # #

Walking up the stairs Danny considered it was probably a good thing he asked Sam to the dance. _She had really wanted to go after all and it made for a good cover if anyone noticed us acting strange or if I have to suddenly leave for Ghosts or something._

He filled a glass of water and drank it. Still sipping at it he turned to go as Jazz walked up to him, "By the way, Danny, just so you know, I'm not to your little secret."

He chocked and spat out water, "What?! Wh-what secret?"

She smiled, "The clumsiness, the nervousness. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before. You have a girlfriend."

"We're not dating!" Danny exclaimed, "Um, I'm just going to the dance with her, as friends!" _(Sam, Jazz has noticed something is up and she's decided I might have a girlfriend. I just told her we are going to the dance as friends.)_ _(Okay. Oh, and I've found something on that ghost dragon.)_

Jazz just smiled knowingly, "Just remember you better let her know your family is insane now, Danny. If you marry her and she finds out later, that's entrapment."

She walked away living behind a spluttering and blushing Danny. _(On the ghost dragon front,)_ Danny added put his glass in the sink and headed for his room _(I have managed to get the Fenton Fisher from my parent' lab without them noticing.)_

 ** _(That's good, you might need it.)_** Tucker remarked silently as Danny entered his room. Smiling at his best-friend he let Tucker open the webcam on his computer to Sam as he adjusted his tie and observed, "Tie straight. Shirt tucked in."

He made sure the retracted Fenton Fisher was neatly hidden in his suit jacket. ( _Hopefully unbreakable ghost fishing line tucked in my jacket in case we run into a ghost dragon.)_ He then turned to look at his computer screen with Tucker. _(You said you had something on the ghost dragon?)_ _(Yeah, I'm sending you the link.)_

"Bye Sam, I'll pick you up from your house?" he asked out loud as Sam sent the link through.

"Sure, see you Danny. Bye." Sam replied as she ended the video-chat.

Tucker opened the link Sam had sent and they both read it. 'Medieval ghostly legend held that the cursed Amulet of Aragon could transform any wearer into dragon form under states of extreme emotional duress or anger.' Danny looked at the image of the Amulet around the dragon's neck. _(That's definitely the Amulet that was on the two Dragons I fought. The problem is I don't think the ghost girl still had it on when she left through the portal. Which means it was knocked off in the fight with her and now someone else has got their hands on it and is wearing it.)_

 ** _(That's not going to be easy to find them. Maybe, we should just wait for the current owner to transform again?)_** _(As much as I don't really like that plan we might have to. Sam?)_ _(No, I haven't seen it either.)_ _(Right so keep an eye out for it tonight and mention if you see it but try and enjoy yourself too.)_

# # #

Danny looked up as he sensed Tucker approaching. "Hi, Tucker, Valerie." He called lightly down the street with a wave. Tucker looked up from where he had been chatting with his date and smiled, "Hey Danny, Sam."

As they turned a corner and fell into step Danny glanced at Valerie with a friendly smile, "Tucker, your date looks lovely tonight."

He wasn't lying, Valerie looked quite pretty with her long black hair bound back behind a red hair band and wearing a long red dress with small red heels. She made a rather good pair with Tucker, still wearing his red beret and glasses of course but otherwise dress in a nice green suit.

"I know. I'm lucky to be going with her. You and Sam clean up surprisingly well when you try." Tucker teased lightly but the complement was genuine. Danny knew he looked surprisingly mature in his neat grey-blue suit with a blue tie but it was Sam who looked startlingly different. Two spikey ponytails held up some of her chin length black hair while she was wearing deep purple eyeshadow and lips stip. A black corset with a purple line down the middle and netting down her shoulders was the first part of her dress. A black throat ribbon emphasised her pale throat and long black fingerless gloves covered her hands. The skirt of her dress was light purple with a large deeper purple strip down the middle and fell down to just above her low black heels while she was carrying a large black handled purple in her off hand.

# # #

 ** _(Look at Mister Lancer.)_** Tucker's mental voice snickered from where he was dancing with Valerie. Danny and Sam looked up from the punch they were sipping and snorted lightly. Mister Lancer seemed to be walking among the students and reading from a book titled '' seemingly at random.

Besides him Sam suddenly twitched. _(Danny, Tucker, I see the Amulet.)_ _ **(Really? That was easy.)**_ _(Nice work Sam. Where is it?)_ _(Paulina has it.)_ _(Oh. So she doesn't have terrible survival instincts.)_ _(What?)_ _(It's nothing, I saw her at the Mall right after the dragon attack carrying a shopping bag. Sam, let's slip away, if anyone notices they will just think we're going someplace more private to make out. Tucker try and keep an eye on Paulina but don't snob Valerie to do so.)_ _(O-kay)_ _ **(Cool dude.)**_

With a blush Sam and Danny ducked out into the hallway. Moving into an unoccupied class room they knew had no cameras Danny looked around for anyone watching. Finding no one he transformed. _(Sam, can you go invisible if you think anyone is approaching? So anyone hoping to catch us out just thinks we went to another room.)_ _(Sure, but be careful Danny.)_ _(Of course.)_

Danny turned invisible and moved intangible back into the ballroom. Looking around he located Paulina dancing with Dash at a mental nudge from Tucker. Floating above the dancing couple he eyed the necklace. _If it's a ghost item then can I even turn it intangible? And would anyone notice it vanishing right off her neck? Would Dash?_

He floated lower in the process he and accidently floated into Paulina. Before he could float back out of her he felt himself get sucked into her in a rather disorientating swirl of stifling warmth, heavy weight and a slightly stuffed out of shape feeling. He stumbled and felt large hands holding hold him up. He didn't feel invisible or intangible only strangely compressed almost.

He looked up at who was holding him up as he stumbled slightly after them. _They were leading him in a dance?_ Having a suspicion as too what was happening he looked up into Dash's almost concerned looking face. _I'm Overshadowing Paulina._

For confirmation he looked down at his body. _Yeah, pink dress, skinny and dark skinned. Nice boobs._ **_(Danny? What's going on?)_** Tucker's mental voice sounded concerned but also distant and slightly muted. _(Hey Tuck. Give me a moment.)_ He found it harder to mentally communicate while Overshadowing Paulina.

Turning to Dash he grimaced and said in a tone somewhere between demanding and miserable, "Dash, I need to use the restroom, I feel sick."

"Err," Dash looked liking like he wasn't quite sure what to do. Danny solved that by doing what he thought Paulina might do and demanded, "Dash! Take me to the restroom right now."

Looking somewhat grateful to have a clear goal, but still nervous, Dash started to shoulder a clear path to the women's restroom. As he followed along behind wobbling slightly in Paulina's heel and probably doing a rather good impression of being a bit sick or a little tipsy Danny reopened his mental communications. _(Sorry about that Tucker, Sam. I just accidently discovered that I can Overshadow.)_ _ **(Overshadow?)**_ _(Ghostly possession. I accidently phased into Paulina and possessed her body when I was trying to figure out how to get the Amulet.)_

Danny gave Dash a tight smile as they reached the outside of the female rest room and hurried away into it. _(I think I can just have her take of the Amulet in the toilets and she will just think it was her idea or something. I think people who are Overshadowed aren't supposed to remember what they do and they besides from acting differently their eyes or voice might change. We can experiment more with it later.)_

Danny looked himself in one of the toilet cubicles and pulled off the amulet. With a small smile he hung it from the door hock and turned Paulina's body to face the toilet. Then he focused and phased out of her. Feeling slightly disorientated for only a moment as he readjusted to his own body and the weightless cold and free feeling off it.

Grabbing the Amulet of the hock he turned intangible and invisible. Floating up a few feet he watched Paulina blink a few times then shake her head and look around in slight confusion. _She seems alright._ Phasing out of the bathroom he floated above the crowd of dancing students.

 _(I've got it.)_ He reported as he flew back to the class room he had left Sam in. Turning visible and tangible he landed and transformed back into his Human form. With a slightly tired grin he offered his arm to Sam, "Can I escort you back to the ballroom for a dance, my lady?" With a laugh the pair turned back to the ballroom to act like all the other teenagers for the rest of the night, even swapping off a few dances with Tucker and Valerie.

Well besides from one hiccup were Danny's ghost sense went off as the dance was winding down. He found the blond haired ghost girl from before watching the last of the dancers from a hard to see corner of the ball room. She'd told him sadly, "I just want to go to the ball."

Danny had just shrugged as he floated next to her, having transformed in an out of the way spot before going to find the ghost, and asked awkwardly, "Err, I this this might be yours?" he offered her the green and gold amulet, "I found it when one of the humans started transforming into a dragon and going on a rampage." as she took it from him he added, "Please don't lose it in the human world again and if you come here again please be discreet about it? I don't want the humans getting alarmed."

She'd smiled at him looking a little happier, "Thank you for returning this Ser Knight. I will keep better track of it and if I must return to the human realm be assured I will attempt to be discreet."


	6. Three For the Portal-Alt Episode 3

**Anything you recognize I probably don't own. There are also some parts of this taken directly from the Danny Phantom Show but it will get more and more different as it goes.**

 _(This is Danny speak thinking.)_ _(This is Sam speak thinking.)_ **_(This is Tucker speak thinking.)_**

Episode 3

Afternoon

 _(Tucker, are you in position?)_ **_(Yes and the Thermos is ready.)_** _(Good, because we're about come through the wall_.) Danny kicked the Ghost Box back and the blue ghost turning intangible fell straight through the wall. He followed the ghost through as it crashed into a pile of boxes. The Ghost didn't seem discouraged, ""Beware! I am the Box Ghost! I have power over all containers cardboard and square." _I wonder if he means that he has control over all things cardboard and all things square or control over all things that are both cardboard and square._

"Can we get this over with?" Danny asked impatiently as he watched Tucker approach, "I have other things to do."

"Other things? There will be no time for other things-" the Box Ghost exclaimed remaining oblivious to the approach of Tucker in his Ghost From dressed a pure black jumpsuit and holding a Fenton Thermos, as with green glowing hands he floated boxes into the air. "-when you find yourself crushed beneath the forgotten possessions of…"he paused to read of the closest shipping label, "Elliot Kravitz of Arlington Heights, Illinois!"

Tucker uncapped the Thermos and the blue beam latched onto the Box Ghost. As the Thermos sucked the Box Ghost into its depths Tucker called rather cheerfully, "Goodnight Box Ghost." **_(That's the warehouses ghost free for now. I've checked the perimeter, there's no camera's or people in range.)_**

 _(Good, thanks Tucks.)_ Danny landed lightly on the ground in front of his currently ghostly best friend. Admittedly besides from the faint white glow he gave off Tucker looked more like some sort of spy or something then a ghost but the full Fenton Hazmat Jumpsuit get up that Danny was almost sure his parents had forgot even existed did make a good disguise.

 _(What is a Seal?)_ Sam asked mentally with a kind of monotone boredom. _(A semi-aquatic, carnivorous marine mammal that barks. Their um, it starts with P.)_ _(There Pinniped but otherwise that was alright. So that's 15/21, which is okay.) (We don't need to do great; we just need to keep passing grades. Steady C's with the occasional D's or B's is good.)_

Sam opened the door and entered the warehouse with a biology text book under one arm, "We done for the night?" _(Yeah. Tucker?)_ **_(It's still clear to transform.)_** With that mental remark Tucker carefully handed the Fenton Thermos to Sam and with a flicker of bluish-white light transformed back to human form. A second later with a much brighter flash of blue-white light Danny transformed back into his human form. Taking the Fenton Thermos from Sam, Danny carefully placed it in his purple backpack.

They had learned the hard way that the Thermos if dropped tended to accidently release the ghost contained with and until they could make a better one, they were careful with the one they had. Danny could still remember how annoying it had been to recapture the Ghost Box that one time they had dropped it and he had flee cackling, "I am the Box Ghost! You cannot hold me within the confines of a cylindrical container!" They had no wish to repeat the experience.

Having returned to human form Tucker once again had his beloved PDA in his hands, "Huh." He remarked, "It seems we are going to schedule. Finishing walking study session, 9:00pm." _Walking study session, Tucker's cover label makes ghost hunting sound so calm._

#

Eating his cereal Danny discreetly watched his mother- _should he call her Maddie instead-_ working on an invention at the kitchen table. _Will this be the regular schedule of the rest of this year? Get up, make sure I appear fully human, eat breakfast at the kitchen table while discreetly trying to determine if what invention my mother is making might be dangerous, go to school and pretend to be a normal, unremarkable student, coming home to check what inventions my father has his hands on, go hang out with my friends' ghost hunting and studying, come home eat dinner, mediate to control my ghost powers and then go to bed?_

Contemplatively he chewed his cereal then turned his attention to Jazz as she appeared in the kitchen doorway holding a magazine, "Oh, my gosh, they said yes!" Jazz all but squealed.

Danny stopped before taking another bit of cereal to ask her with something between teasing and mocking, "Who said yes? The person you asked if you were a conceited snob?"

His tone and actual question didn't seem be able to phase her almost fangirlish mood, "No, _Genius Magazine_ said yes! They got my letter and wanted to put mom on the cover!" She screamed and hugged the magazine tight. _Gesh, she's really excited about this._

"Genius Magazine?" his mother questioned looking up from the invention she was working on.

His father was a lot more boisterous as he snatched the magazine from Jazz, "Genius Magazine? Is it the swimsuit issue?" _Really Dad? You married and you're asking your teenaged 'grown up' daughter that? I don't understand my parents._

"Uh, Dad," Jazz interrupted, " _Genius Magazine_ _is_ for women geniuses _by_ women genius and about _woman_ geniuses."

Noting that Jazz hadn't denied the existence of a swimsuit issue, Danny pounced on a way to annoy his older sister, "So it is the swimsuit issue." he paused then frowned before exclaiming, "Oh, gross! Mom's gonna be in the swimsuit issue?!"

Jazz had managed to snatch the magazine back from Jack and was now holding onto it like it was the last thing holding up her dignity, "It's _not_ the swimsuit issue!" she humped and calmed down a bit. "But it is the perfect magazine to show I have normal parents instead of a couple of ghost-hunting freaks." _That's not going to work Jazz._

"They're not ghost-hunting freaks." He protested half-heartedly. After all he knew his sister wasn't that far of the mark for all that he might know that ghosts were real.

"Hey, Danny," Jack called brightly seeming not have noticed what Jazz said, "speaking of ghost hunting," Danny eyed him with more wariness as he grabbed the invention Maddie had been working on. He remembered the last time this had happened with the Fenton Ghost Finder. "check out the latest in ghost-hunting technology: the Ghost Gabber. _Genius Magazine_ has to be interested in this." slyly Jack told his son, "It takes the mysterious sounds that a ghost makes and translates them into works you and I use every day. Here, try it."

Danny gave the invention shoved under his nose a dubious look. _S'pos it could be useful if we ever run across a ghost we don't understand. I mean the Lunch Lady spoke English but she was clearly from around here. The Box Ghost speaks English too but surely if they are the souls or imprints of dead or dying humans then they wouldn't all speak English._

 _Well,_ Danny paused to consider that trail of thought, _I suppose it is always possible that they are actually speaking some form of Ghost Speak that we instinctively understand as Half-Ghosts but it doesn't seem particularly likely. Still something to look into though as it would really suck if our cover was blown by accidently speaking to a ghost in a way not human understood._ Absently as he had been thinking he had told the Ghost Gabbler with an uncertain sounding voice, "Uh, uh…boo?"

The Ghost Gabbler replied in a woman's voice, "I am a ghost. Fear me."

He shot it an uncertain look before getting up, "I'd better get to school."

As he put his left the room the Ghost Gabbler repeated its female voice, "I'd better get to school. Fear me." _(Tucker, my parents have invented something they call the Ghost Gabbler. It's supposed to translate what ghosts say but it just repeats what I say and adds 'fear me' at the end. Still the first time when I said, 'uh, uh, boo.' it translated that as 'I am a ghost. Fear me.' instead. Maybe we should look into seeing if we can get a fully working version in case we run into any ghosts that don't speak English?)_

 ** _(Sounds like a good plan)_** Tucker's voice rang causally through his mind as he listened what his mother said as he crossed the entry hall, "That's a great magazine, sweetie, but your father and I are a team. I think that beside every genius woman, there's a genius man." **_(I'd need a copy of the plans or a good look and chance to pull apart a working Ghost Gabbler before I can do anything about it.)_**

He could hear Jack puff up with pride as he checked his was ready to leave the house for school, "who should be standing beside her on the cover of Genius Magazine! The word needs to know that the Fentons are a family of geniuses."

Leaving the house Danny replied to Tucker. _(I know, guess we'll have to stage another raid of my parents lab or something.)_ He mentally paused before asking. _(Is there any way to check that Ghost's don't have their own instinctive language that we've have accidently picked up as half-ghosts? It would be awkward to explain if we were caught taking to a ghost in a language no humans understood.)_

They continued their respective ways to Casper high silent in the physical but locked in an intense mental conversation.

# # #

Sitting in the Casper high library Danny sighed, "I got a C." _(Which is fine if even if I normally get Bs in biology but really ghost hunting is taking up time.) **(Yeah, I hear you man. Who knew being a superhero was so hard and boring.)** ( Think I will probably need to do a make-up assignment because of the 11 or so beakers I broke in the first week.) **(Urgh, I will too, I broke 5 but unlike your family of Fenton geniuses I am normally a C-D student in biology.)**_

"Well you could always pull up your grade and earn back points you lost from dropping all of those beakers by doing an extra credit assignment…" Sam pulled up a web page on a gorilla that said at the top 'Simpson: Extremely Rare', "On this magnificent creature."

Danny walked over to look at the screen, "A purple-back gorilla?" he asked with a degree of uncertainty.

"Yep." Sam popped happily, "Extremely rare. Only two left, both male. After this, they're gone forever. Which is why you are going to prove he deserves to be set free."

Danny groaned, "I don't have time for extra credit…" _(Actually I probably do.)_ And then he gave her a look, "or your agendas." _(Really Sam, are you trying to drag me into your protest things.)_

Tucker held up his PDA, "Actually you do. You just have to learn how to manage it better. I've decided to become your time manager. It's the least I can do after letting Sam drag you into her campaigns of evil."

Danny half smiled then sighed, "I don't know."

"It'll be my job to keep track of your schedule for you can do your work and not be worked to death by Sam's evil campaigns." Sam glared at him but Tucker seemed oblivious.

"Remember what happened the last time I let you nearby my computer for us to study."

Tucker tapped his PDA, "And I've already scheduled 'Remember: not to let Tucker near DOOMED while we need to study." He showed Danny the blinking reminder on the screen.

"I suppose we could have a trail period."

"See? I've already scheduled some zoo time so we can check out that gorilla." Tucker stood up, "Let's go."

# # #

Leaning against a desk in the observation tower Danny and Tucker were barely listening to Sam as she stared through her binoculars, "There he is: Sampson. So gifted, so…majestic."

Danny sighed, "Sam we've been watching the gorilla scratch his butt for, um, how long?"

Tuckered yawned, "Six hours."

Danny echoed Tucker with an answering yawn, "Time flies when you're majestically scratching your butt."

Sam still staring through her binoculars didn't notice when her friends fell asleep as she waxed on, "It's only a matter of time before you find out something about Sampson nobody's ever learned!" She turned around, "You should go and try to communicate with him."

She frowned as she noticed Danny asleep, "Ugh, great. Tucker, you're his manager, can you-"she noticed Tucker asleep next to Tucker, "I'll do it. But first…" she took out her camera and snapped a picture of then curled up alongside each other, "Boys hugging makes every yearbook funny."

The she paused again, "They're asleep." she smiled and rushed over to the Gorilla cage. "Oh, you wondrous being. Do you want out?" The purple-back gorilla just stared at her but she took that as a yes and unlocked to cage.

As the Gorilla wandered slowly out; Danny having been woken up by Sam's excited mind, yawned his way out of the observation tower with Tucker shuffling along behind him. "Oh, fuck." Danny mumbled as he spotted the gorilla shuffling slowly out of its open cage.

Behind him Tucker moaned, "A four-hundred pound gorilla, Sam? Really."

"Tucker…" Danny sighed blankly, "Just keep Sam away."

"Sure man." Tucker nodded behind him, "I can keep Sam away."

Absently Danny scratched his butt and wandered over to the purple-back gorilla. Somehow looking at he just couldn't bring himself to be really scared when he had fasted down ghosts with ghost powers. In what many would consider a suicidal move Danny latched onto one of the gorilla's arms and started to pull him towards his cage.

Managing to manoeuvre the surprisingly mellow gorilla into his cage he glanced more closely at the gorilla and revised that. _Make that_ her _cage._ He slowly meandered back out of the cage and used to control panels to shut the cage door.

He turned to look at Sam who was being guarded by Tucker, "Sam, we're heading back to Fenton Works." As he started to walk away he paused and added, "Oh, and he's female."

# # #

Walking home Danny paused outside the front door to listen for moment, "Connie, my primary focus these days is ghost hunting." Danny opened the door and entered.

"Um, forgive me." Danny looked into the lounge to see a frowning woman who must be Connie sitting on a chair across from his family. "Did you just say ghost hunting?"

Jazz sighed and Maddie noticed the trio entering the house. Danny had a few twigs in his hair and a dark brooding look on his face. "Danny look at you! I'm not sure I like this overnight zoo research."

"Mom, come on." Danny complained, "We're just a bunch of kids. In the zoo. At night. Alone." Everyone was staring at him "We'll be in my room." _Maybe I could give everyone the impression that we're involved in a three-way if people get to close to our actual ghostly secret._

As they left the room to the Ghost Gabbler repeated, "We'll be in my room. Fear me."

He snorted in amusement as he walked up the stairs hearing Jazz's rather annoyed exclamation, "Give me that!" a pause then, "Now where were we?"

#

Three days later after all three had turned in their extra credit assignment to Lancer and Danny was mildly horrified to see the magazine that Lancer had ready to read to the class. _Seriously,_ Genius Magazine _is supposed to be about female genius not their sons._

Danny resigned himself to mortification as Lancer started to read to the class, "'Brooding genius Daniel Fenton did what no other researcher dared to do. He got close enough to this rare purple-back gorilla to realize Sampson was actually a Delilah.'" He folded up the magazine, "Nobody at the zoo ever bothered to see if it was a boy or a girl?"

"That's weird, huh?" Danny remarked with a slight glare at Sam, "Well, maybe they were respecting her privacy."

"Well, Fenton, I have to admit I'm impressed. Wanted to get your grade average up so bad you risked getting mauled by a gorilla." He placed the report with a B- on Danny's desk.

"A B, huh?" Dany asked with a sigh, "I risk getting killed by a gorilla and I get a B-?"

"Life's a big mystery, isn't it, Fenton?" The bell rung but Lancer added as he left the classroom, "Next time you want to get your grade up, try the library."

"Well, it's better than a C." Sam tried optimistically.

Tucker gave her a look, "I think that we would have preferred to never be that close to the gorilla." he paused then added, "Be glad that the complete destruction of those pictures was worth not telling the whole school you let the gorilla out in the first place."

Danny grunted his agreement then sighed as he shivered from the chill of his ghost sense going off. Glancing around he saw no one watching or nearby and transformed under his desk. "I am the Box Ghost!" Floating towards the ghost he returned to invisibility as his friends pretended to be shocked and afraid of the two ghosts, "And once I empty you of your useless, papers, your marvellous squareness shall be mine!"

"Hello, misplaced aggression." Danny called softly with a smile and narrowed eyes. As the Box Ghost turned to look at him Tucker checked his PDA. **_(You have five minutes until we're scheduled to be else were and no cameras are watching.)_** _(That's four more minutes then I actually need.)_

 **You might have noticed the lack of Skulker. This is quite deliberate. Danny as been much more careful in his transformation in this and thus Tucker and Sam are the only others who know that Danny is half-ghost. Thus Skulker hasn't heard any rumours about a new half-ghost and so hasn't come to hunt Phantom. A rare few of you might notice that Danny has better grades in this, this is from a combination of the trio practicing more with and thus having more control over their ghost powers, and them making a more active attempt to keep attention away from their secret.**


End file.
